USA Herald – Early this year, the New Jersey Legislature passed Senate Bill 1559 called the “New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act” (“IFCA”) that created a statutory, individual cause of action for insurance bad faith in the handling and payment of claims for uninsured motorist/underinsured motorist (“UM/UIM”) benefits. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the IFCA into law.
Under the new rules of the IFCA legislation, “ an individual injured in a motor vehicle accident and entitled to the uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage of an insurance policy” can now file suit against an insurer who has “unreasonably denied” the insured’s claim for coverage. This injured party has new legal standing to assert a claim against the driver’s insurance courier.
Under the IFCA, an individual can bring a lawsuit against the insurer if they “experience an unreasonable delay for coverage or payment of benefits.”
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the new IFCA rules are a significant transformation in New Jersey’s first-party bad faith law. Under IFCA, a “first party” is a person directly involved in a motorist accident. These laws were typically governed under the standard of review set forth in Pickett v. Lloyd’s, 131 N.J. 457 (1993).
