New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Faustino Fernandez-Vina
In an effort to “avoid rewarding insureds for omitting key details in a UIM claim,” the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that an insurance company does not have to pay out on an underinsured motorist claim when the policyholder failed to advise of a separate claim pending against the at-fault driver.
The court, in a unanimous decision, reversed the Appellate Division’s previous split ruling in the case. “Our precedent was not followed here,” and neither were the policy terms, wrote Justice Faustino Fernandez-Vina in Ferrante v. New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance.
