Bill > A4293

Introduced Session

This bill, the "New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act," establishes a private cause of action for first-party claimants regarding certain unfair or unreasonable practices by their insurer. The bill defines "insurer" to mean any individual, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity which issues, executes, renews or delivers an insurance policy in this State, or which is responsible for determining claims made under the policy. Under the bill, the term "insurer" does not include an insurance producer as defined by P.L.2001, c.210 (C.17:22A-28) or a public entity. Pursuant to the bill, a claimant may file a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against its insurer for: (1) an unreasonable delay or unreasonable denial of a claim for payment of benefits under an insurance policy; or (2) any violation of the provisions of section 4 of P.L.1947, c.379 (C.17:29B-4). Section 4 of P.L.1947, c.379 (C.17:29B-4) defines certain activities as unfair methods of competition and unfair and deceptive acts or practices in the business of insurance including, among other things, misrepresentations and false advertising of policy contracts, false information and advertising generally, defamation, unfair discrimination, unfair claim settlement practices and failure to maintain complaint handling procedures. The bill provides that, in any action filed pursuant to the bill, the claimant shall not be required to prove that the insurer's actions were of such a frequency as to indicate a general business practice. The bill also provides that, upon establishing that a violation of the provisions of the bill has occurred, the claimant shall be entitled to: (1) actual damages caused by the violation; (2) prejudgment interest, reasonable attorney's fees, and all reasonable litigation expenses; and (3) treble damages.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Jon Bramnick (R)*,  Ronald Dancer (R)*,  JoAnn Downey (D)*,  Raj Mukherji (D)*,  Annette Quijano (D)*,  Shavonda Sumter (D)*,  Angelica Jimenez (D),  Erik Peterson (R), 

Reported out of Assembly Comm. with Amendments, 2nd Reading (on 01/09/2020)