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Skeete v. Dorvius6/10/2005
n of your policy we have added a clause which serves to limit the amount recoverable under these coverages to $15,000 per person, $30,000 per occurrence for persons who are not named insureds or resident relatives, but who are injured while passengers in your car.
In addition to the 113 pages Thomas received on May 25, on June 9, 1999, Prudential sent her another package of 78 pages re-rating her policy in accordance with AICRA. The June 9 package included the New Standard Automobile Policy booklets, an amended declarations page and Important Notice to New Jersey Policyholders, highlighting policy changes. The amended declaration page again listed the coverage for Uninsured Motorists as $100,000 for each person and $300,000 for each accident with no notation about the step-down in coverage.
When faced with the question of the sufficiency of Prudential's notice of the step-down, the Appellate Division concluded:
We have considered the extensive record before us in light of the applicable law, and we are satisfied that the manner in which Prudential notified Thomas of the change in UM/UIM coverage--inundating her with almost 200 pages of documents in a two-week period, burying the change in a few unremarkable paragraphs, and failing to note the change on the declaration page--was inadequate for the average policyholder to determine that the UM/UIM coverage was amended and how the amendment would affect the policyholder.
In reviewing the documents provided to Thomas, we are persuaded that the policyholder would reasonably expect that the coverage shown on the declaration page remained the same as the previous year. It is unlikely that the average policyholder would have identified the step-down in UM/UIM coverage without extensive detective work, an unreasonable encumbrance on a policyholder that can only result in hidden pitfalls such as are presented here.
We hold that unless specific changes in the limits of coverage are noted on the declaration page, the carrier's notice of changes in coverage is inadequate.
The Court went on to reverse the summary judgment entered in Prudential's favor.
We granted Prudential's petition for certification Skeete v. Dorvius, 180 N.J. 456 (2004), and now affirm. Prudential reiterates the essential argument that it advanced before the Appellate Division -- that its efforts to notify Queenie Thomas of the changes in her policy were adequate. We disagree. Substantially for the reasons expressed by the Appellate Division, we have concluded that the notice of the addition of the step-down was insufficient because of its presentation as part of an essentially undifferentiated passel of two hundred documents. It is the placement of the notice and not its specificity that is the issue.
We add this caveat. We are not prepared to say that every single policy change must be reflected on the declarations sheet. That simply may not be practical in every situation as this case, which involves a large scale statutory overhaul, demonstrates. Thus, for example, had the insurer sent the cover letter with the three page notice outlining the changes separately, thus giving the insured a chance to digest the changes before drowning her in a sea of paper, the outcome might well have been different. In sum, we hold that policy changes must be conveyed fairly to the policyholder, although in no particular form, and that in this case the insurer fell short.
The judgment of the Appellate Division is affirmed. JUSTICES ZAZZALI, ALBIN, andAND WALLACE join in this opinion. JUSTICE LONG's opinion. JUSTICE ALBIN filed a separate concurring opinion in which JUSTICE ZAZZALI joins. JUSTICE LaVECCHIA
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