In Endo Surgi Center, P.C. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 2007 WL 1038758 (2007), a medical services provider, as assignee of the insureds under an automobile liability policy, brought an action against the insurer to recover personal injury protection (PIP) benefits, and asserted a common-law claim for breach of good faith.

The Superior Court, Law Division, Union County, denied the insurer's motion to dismiss the bad faith claim, and the insurer filed a motion for leave to appeal, which was granted.

Upon appeal, the Superior Court, Appellate Division, held that the medical services provider, as insureds' assignee, could not maintain a common-law action against the insurer for alleged bad faith denial of PIP benefits.

 According to the court, the medical services provider, as insured's assignee, did not allege any independent tort committed by the insurer in response to the claim for benefits and, thus, was limited to recovering payment of the improperly denied benefits plus interest and reasonable attorney fees it had to incur to collect those benefits. These were all recoverable through the procedures established by No-Fault Act.

In reaching its decision, the court explained that because PIP benefits were statutory in origin, an insured who is wrongfully denied such benefits should only be entitled to the statutory remedy of interest on the benefits and attorney's fees, as those were the exclusive remedies for an automobile insurer's wrongful denial of PIP benefits under the No-Fault Act.