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Puso v. Kenyon3/10/1994
re than a minor limitation of use. We believe that a minor, mild or slight limitation of use should be classified as insignificant within the meaning of the statute.
[Id. 455 N.Y.S.2d at 573, 441 N.E.2d at 1091.]
We note that the word "significant" is only used twice in N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8a, in types three and eight, and the word "type" does not appear in the actual statute but has its derivation in Oswin v. Shaw, supra, 129 N.J. at 315-16.
N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8a restricts the recovery of noneconomic losses to nine types of injuries:
Type 3: significant disfigurement;
Type 8: significant limitation of use of a body function or system.
[Id. at 314-15.]
As noted, Licari v. Elliott, supra, 441 N.E.2d at 1091, defined "significant" as meaning "something more than . . . minor." As that construction of "significant" was applicable to a "type eight" injury , we find it appropriate to again refer to the decisions in New York to discern whether the word "significant" is construed differently in the context of "significant disfigurement."
In Agudelo v. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 118 Misc. 2d 186, 460 N.Y.S.2d 416, 418-19 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1983), the court concluded:
Although no New York case has discussed or defined the meaning of a "significant disfiguring" injury in connection with a no-fault case, the word disfigurement is used in our State's Workers' Compensation Law (§ 15, subd. 3, par. t(1) wherein it is provided that the "board may award proper and equitable compensation for serious facial and head disfigurement"). As used in the context of a claim for workers' compensation benefits, the term "disfigurement" has been defined as "that which impairs or injures the beauty, symmetry, or appearance of a person; that which renders unsightly, misshapen, or imperfect, or deforms in some manner. . . ."
Thus, refining the case law definition of the word "disfigurement" as used in the workers' compensation cases, cited supra, "an injury is disfiguring (under the 'no-fault' law) if it alters for the worse the plaintiff's natural appearance. A disfigurement is significant if a reasonable person viewing the plaintiff's (face) in its altered state would regard the condition as unattractive, objectionable, or as the subject of pity or scorn", 1 PJI § 2:88B, supplement, p. 93.
[Citations omitted.]
Under our original no-fault statute, the meaning of "permanent significant disfigurement" was thoroughly analyzed in a comprehensive Discussion in Falcone v. Branker, 135 N.J. Super. 137, 342 A.2d 875 (Law Div. 1975). The court also relied upon the law of workers' compensation in other jurisdictions and concluded, at 144-45:
The apparently now classic definition of the phrase "permanent serious disfigurement" in a compensation setting was made in Superior Mining Co. v. Industrial Commission, 309 Ill. 339, 141 N.E. 165 (1923):
In Falcone, Judge Walsh, utilizing this definition, carefully described the scars of the plaintiff:
Turning now to the scars which plaintiff asserts are permanent significant disfigurements, the court finds that plaintiff's facial scar is near, or on the tip of the nose, approximately 1/4 inch long; extremely thin; the same color as the surrounding skin, and barely noticeable at a three-foot distance, even when one knows where to look. The scar on the doctor's leg is elliptical in shape, somewhat like a quarter moon, about 1 1/2 inches long, a quarter inch wide at most, located 2 to 2 1/2 inches below the kneecap, and basically the color of the surrounding s
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