Mr. Rizika and Mr. Meszaros participated in a key June 19, 2008 reported Appellate Division decision which clarified the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund's (Fund) obligation to provide PIP benefits to otherwise uninsured passengers of vehicles covered by "special" or "dollar-a-day" policies. In the case, Sanders v. Langemeier, et al, A-4335-06T3, the codefendant-appellant, New Jersey Property Liability Insurance Guaranty Fund, (NJPLIGA), as the Fund's administrator, sought to overturn a trial-court decision that ordered the Fund to extend coverage for the plaintiff's non-emergency medical expenses. NJPLIGA, which was joined in the appeal by amicus Commissioner of the Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI), argued that because he had emergency PIP coverage under his host's special policy available to him, plaintiff was not otherwise remediless and, thus, did not qualify for the Fund. The court rejected NJPLIGA's and DOBI's arguments.
In a unanimous published decision, which cited arguments from two separate briefs that we submitted on behalf of ATLA-NJ, the Court held that (1) under New Jersey's applicable statutory and code provisions, emergency PIP is not the equivalent of PIP coverage, (2) the legislature did not intend to exclude otherwise eligible New Jersey residents such as plaintiff from the Fund's coverage, and (3) the position urged by NJPLIGA and DOBI would undermine the core purpose and public policy underlying both No Fault and Fund legislation. This decision will result in the state affording coverage for medical bills for those NJ citizens who do not have auto insurance of their own and are injured in an accident while a passenger in a vehicle with no insurance for medical coverage.
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