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Skeete v. Dorvius6/10/2005
licy limits, Thomas's coverage for non-relative occupants injured in her car was reduced to no more than $15,000 per person, with a total of $30,000 in coverage per accident. On three separate occasions after that policy amendment, Prudential issued to Thomas new declaration pages that did not reflect the significant restriction in her UM/UIM coverage, leading Thomas to believe that the original coverage limits still applied.
Nothing in the language on Thomas's declaration page would have suggested to the average insured that a passenger in her car would be subject to a coverage limit of $15,000. The continued use of the old and unmodified declaration page was misleading because it created expectations out of line with the coverage limits detailed in the fine print of the policy.
In this case, Prudential easily could have incorporated additional information into the declaration page to ensure that Thomas had a full understanding of her coverage limits. For example, the declaration page could have read:
COVERAGE LIMITS PREMIUMS . . . .
Uninsured Motorists Bodily Injury
Insured $100,000 $21
Each Accident $300,000
Resident Relative $100,000 w/o auto policy
Other persons $15,000
The additional steps necessary to conform the declaration page to the policy were not cumbersome. At least since Lehrhoff, supra, Prudential was on notice about the particular need for accuracy on the declaration page -- the one page that an insured would most likely read and comprehend. 271 N.J. Super. at 346-57; see also Zacarias, supra, 168 N.J. at 602.
This Court has long held that " hen members of the public purchase policies of insurance they are entitled to the broad measure of protection necessary to fulfill their reasonable expectations." Kievit v. Loyal Protective Life Ins. Co., 34 N.J. 475, 482 (1961). "They should not be subjected to technical encumbrances or to hidden pitfalls and their policies should be construed liberally in their favor to the end that coverage is afforded to the full extent that any fair interpretation will allow." Ibid. (internal quotations omitted).
Thomas was entitled to benefit from the reasonable expectations of coverage raised by the declaration page, notwithstanding the contradictory language in the policy, lost among reams of paper. Prudential is capable of drafting a clear, simple, and understandable declaration page. For those reasons, I would affirm the judgment of the Appellate Division.
Justice Zazzali joins in this opinion.
JUSTICE LaVECCHIA, dissenting.
I would reverse the Appellate Division judgment. The policyholder in this matter purchased a policy of insurance that contained uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. The policy provisions setting forth that coverage are not the focal point of this dispute.
There is no policy ambiguity that must be interpreted in favor of an insured's reasonable expectations. Rather, a majority of the Court holds that the unambiguous policy language is not enforceable because the insurer, here Prudential Insurance Company, did not inform the policyholder about changes in the details of UM/UIM coverage by means of a communication that was distinct enough to be acceptable to the Court. Ante at ___, (slip op. at 6-7).
Although I am unable to join in the holding of the majority, in my judgment the majority is wise not to base any part of its reasoning in favor of coverage for plaintiff on the declarations pages of Thomas's insurance policy. The Appellate Division decision below, had its reasoning stood, would have inappropriately ex
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