The bedrock principle of New Jersey insurance coverage law is that the insurance policy is an adhesion contract drafted solely by the insurance industry. As our Supreme Court stated more than 50 years ago:
Insurance contracts are unipartite in character. They are prepared by the company’s experts, men learned in the law of insurance who serve its interest in exercising their draftsmanship art. The result of their effort is given to the insured in printed form upon the payment of his premium. The circumstances long ago fathered the principle that doubts as to the existence of coverage must be resolved in favor of the insured.
Kievit v. Loyal Protective Life Insurance Co., 34 N.J. 475 (1961). See also, Voorhees v. Preferred Mutual Insurance Co., 128 N.J. 165 (1992) (“But because insurance policies are adhesion contracts, courts must assume a particularly vigilant role in ensuring their conformity to public policy and principles of fairness.”).
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