New Jersey Bad Faith Insurance Lawyer
In New Jersey, a first-party claim on a homeowner’s, property or health insurance policy is judged by the “fairly debatable” standard set by the New Jersey Supreme Court. An insurer acts in bad faith when it denies or delays a valid claim without a fairly debatable reason. New Jersey’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act applies only to uninsured and underinsured motorist claims, which we do not handle.
Why we ask you to email us first
Bad-faith cases are won or lost on paper. Whether an insurance company acted in bad faith depends on your policy, the denial letter, the adjuster’s notes and every letter between you and the company. A phone call cannot show us any of that. Email us a short description of what happened, and we will reply with the list of documents we need to review your claim.
We handle bad-faith claims on homeowner’s and property policies and on health insurance claims. We do not handle auto claims.
The first consultation is free. If your claim needs a full review of the file, we tell you the flat review fee up front, and it is credited toward your fee if we take the case.
Contact Michael A. Siddons for Your New Jersey Bad Faith Claim
Email us at msiddons@siddonslaw.com with a short description of what happened, and we will reply with the list of documents we need to review your claim.
By Insurer: State Farm | Allstate | GEICO | Progressive
By State: Overview | Pennsylvania | Maryland | New York
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New Jersey Bad Faith — The “Fairly Debatable” Standard
Important — read this before calling: New Jersey applies a much more demanding bad faith standard than Pennsylvania. Under Pickett v. Lloyd’s, an insurer is not liable for bad faith if the claim was “fairly debatable” — meaning the insurer had any reasonable ground to deny or dispute the claim. In practice this means the majority of disputed claims in New Jersey are breach of contract cases, not bad faith cases.
To pursue bad faith in New Jersey you generally need:
- A claim that was not fairly debatable — the insurer had no reasonable basis to dispute it
- Conduct showing the insurer knew or recklessly disregarded the lack of a reasonable basis
- Damages beyond the policy limits that were proximately caused by the insurer’s conduct