We are happy to report that Dan Levy just won an appeal against NJ CURE, an insurance carrier that refused to honor their legal obligations.

The case, Khalid Sanders v. NJ CURE, A-3878-12T1 (Unpublished App. Div., March 13, 2014), involved a car crash. At the time, our client Mr. Sanders was a passenger in his friend’s car, which was insured by an insurance policy issued by NJ CURE. That car was rear-ended by a vehicle, which carried no liability insurance at all. Since Mr. Sanders was badly hurt, we assisted him in filing an Uninsured Motorist (“UM”) action against NJ CURE. UM coverage is supposed to pay claims that are caused by drivers who are uninsured, as in this case. However, NJ CURE refused to pay the claim and they refused to submit to binding arbitration, as specified in their insurance contract. They argued that Mr. Sanders did not have any UM coverage under his own car insurance policy (he purchased a Basic Policy – designed for lower income drivers – and that does not carry UM coverage per NJ law). And because of that, CURE should not have to pay UM benefits just because Mr. Sanders happened to be traveling in their insured’s vehicle. The trial judges disagreed with CURE (agreeing with Mr. Levy’s arguments) and ordered them to submit to binding arbitration. CURE refused and filed an appeal. On appeal, Mr. Levy argued that New Jersey law obligates CURE to provide UM benefits regardless of the type of coverage that Mr. Sanders purchased. He also argued that the language in the CURE insurance policy that CURE relied upon was entirely inapplicable to this situation. The Appellate Division heard oral arguments on October 9, 2013 and delivered an opinion on March 13, 2014, which was in agreement with Mr. Levy’s arguments.

This is the second appeal that NJ CURE filed on one of our cases and we are proud that Mr. Levy was successful on both appeals.