The Senate Judiciary Committee convened to interview four nominees for Superior Court judgeships, all of whom received Senate support last week. The NJSBA has rallied the support of dozens of county and affinity bar organizations to urge the swift nominations of Superior Court judges to make up for a historically high number of judicial vacancies in the state.
The nominees are Thomas Comer of Farmingdale, Naazneen B. Khan of Nutley, Frank C. Testa of Haddonfield and Jeffrey Wilson of Atlantic City. Their nominations bring the number of vacancies to 59; however 13 more vacancies are anticipated with retirement dates looming.
The NJSBA recently sent to the Governor and Senate President more than two dozen resolutions strongly urging them to move to fill looming vacancies. “With less than a month until the start of a new Supreme Court term, the organized bar joins together to highlight the immediate need to address this crisis,” said NJSBA President Jeralyn L. Lawrence. “On behalf of all the lawyers represented by the New Jersey State Bar Association, county bar associations and affinity bar associations in New Jersey, and the clients they represent, I implore you to act with all haste to fill these vacancies.”
The NJSBA continues to work with the stakeholders to address the vacancies.
Auto insurance bills raise minimums, clarify disclosure of policy limits
Last week’s package of bills signed into law will make marked changes to automobile insurance policies in the state by increasing personal injury protection (PIP) minimums and clarifying mandatory disclosure of policy limits upon request from an attorney. While the NJSBA did not take a position on the PIP bill, its members monitored the bill. The NJSBA supported further amendments to the disclosure bill, some of which were made.
S481 (Scutari)/A4291 (Greenwald) requires automobile insurance policies to provide certain minimum amounts of liability, uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist coverage. This was part of a package of “consumer rights and protections” bills that the Senate President touted as “common-sense reforms to protect consumers from insurance companies.”
“New Jersey continues to have the lowest minimum coverage limits in the country and they haven’t been increased in 50 years,” said Senate President Nicholas Scutari, a prime sponsor of the bill. “We are long overdue for reforms.” He defended the bill, pointing out that the current minimums leave many drivers exposed to unpaid medical bills beyond the coverage amounts purchased in insurance policies. Increases would not take effect until 2026.
S2843 (Scutari)/A4293 (Mukherji) requires automobile insurers to disclose policy limits upon request by an attorney under certain circumstances. This amends a recently passed law that mandates disclosure of policy limits by an insurer upon request from an attorney. The NJSBA supported the prior version, but suggested amendments., including one that was made in the final bill to clarify that disclosure was not a waiver of any coverage defense or of raising any coverage issues.
The current changes expand mandatory disclosure to all applicable insurance policies—not just private passenger automobile insurance policies and removes the limitation on disclosure to just motor vehicle accidents. The NJSBA continued to urge two additional changes to include the insured as one of the entities to receive notice of the disclosure and to disclose the limits to all insurers that may be involved, not just the attorney who requested it. Those changes were not made.
This is a status report provided by the New Jersey State Bar Association on recently passed and pending legislation, regulations, gubernatorial nominations and/or appointments of interest to lawyers, as well as the involvement of the NJSBA as amicus in appellate court matters. To learn more, visit njsba.com.