Auto Reform Could Cost N.J. Drivers

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, Nov. 26, 3:10 p.m. EST?A proposal to alter the verbal threshold option for New Jersey?s auto drivers would add $98 to $163 per car to consumers automobile bill according to an actuarial study.[@@]

The study, commissioned by Save Choices for New Jersey Drivers, was done by Pinnacle Actuarial Resources Inc. based in Bloomington, Ill., an independent firm.

Save Choices is a group of carriers, insurance agents, businesses, and carrier associations who have banded together to fight proposed legislation?bill numbers A-3531 and S-2533?which would expand the language of the current verbal threshold option. Under the option, drivers agree not to sue for pain and suffering from non-serious injuries.

Bernard Flynn, a spokesman for Save Choices, and vice president and general counsel for New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group based in West Trenton, N.J., said the sole purpose of the language change is to bring more law suits into the system. He said it is the number one legislative topic for the Association of Trail Lawyers of America-New Jersey, which is pushing for passage of the bills.

The bills, Mr. Flynn said, have come out of committee in the state Assembly, but have not been brought up for a vote. In the state Senate, the bill has not gone through committee.

In New Jersey, bills that do not pass the legislature by the end of the term die. The bills must be re-introduced with the new legislative session. The current term ends in mid-January 2004.

Mr. Flynn said that each day the bill is not acted upon increases the chance of "preserving the right of consumers to make their own choice."

The Pinnacle study examined closed auto claims from New York and Florida, which are similar to New Jersey. However, Florida's law permits the type of lawsuits the New Jersey bill would allow if passed. From the study, Pinnacle concluded that rates for bodily injury would increase, adding between $98 to the $163 per car to auto policies.

Mr. Flynn added that the report was commissioned to counter inaccurate information legislators may have received.

A call to the Trail Lawyers Association was not immediately returned. Representatives from the association have been quoted in news reports disagreeing with the results. They contend that the right of New Jersey's motorists to sue must be preserved and that the legislation would do that.

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Auto Reform Could Cost N.J. Drivers

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