Governor Philip Murphy has signed two bills that are NJAJ priorities into law.

That means that the Insurance Fair Conduct Act is now law in New Jersey.

The bill provides insurance consumers a first-party right to sue their insurance companies if the carriers act in bad faith and deny, delay or underpay legitimate claims in uninsured and underinsured motorist cases.

NJAJ has fought for this legislation for many years.

“New Jersey consumers now have a meaningful remedy if their insurance companies unreasonably delay, deny or underpay claims in uninsured and underinsured motorist cases,” said NJAJ President Kathleen M. Reilly, Esq.

“We are grateful to Governor Murphy for helping to protect New Jersey insurance consumers by signing this important bill into law,” she said.

The governor also signed legislation to correct the situation created by the Appellate Division’s unpublished decision in Chandler v Kasper.

The new law, A-6311, allows people who are not yet appointed as administrator of an estate to pursue a wrongful death case on behalf of the deceased’s survivors in cases where there is no will and no assets in the estate.

Both new laws take effect immediately.

The two bills were priority items for NJAJ.

“We thank Governor Murphy for signing these new laws to protect the rights of New Jersey residents and we thank all of the legislative sponsors,” Reilly said.

The Insurance Fair Conduct was sponsored in the Senate by new Senate President Nicholas P. Scutari, and Senator Patrick J. Diegnan. Senator  Teresa M. Ruiz co-sponsored the bill.

The Assembly sponsors were Annette Quijano, Jon M. Bramnick, Raj Mukherji, Shavonda E. Sumter, Joann Downey and Ronald S. Dancer.

Senate President Scutari was the Senate sponsor of the bill to correct the Chandler decision. The Assembly sponsors were Jon M. Bramnick and Raj Mukherji.