The New Jersey Appellate Division untangled a thorny dispute between an automobile insurer and health insurance provider. Four people who both parties insured suffered injuries as a result of car crashes. Each insured’s automobile insurance policy included a personal injury protection (PIP) provision. In each case, the insurer paid the insured’s medical bills but then sought to recover those expenses from the health insurer via subrogation. The Appellate Division affirmed the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the health insurer. Subrogation used to be a method for recovery in these situations, but New Jersey’s No-Fault Act changed that. A regulatory scheme now covers these disputes. Under that regulatory scheme, “when a PIP-as-secondary insurer receives a claim eligible for primary coverage, it must deny coverage and send the insured a notice advising them to submit the claim to their health insurer.” Here, the automobile insurer did not follow the regulations. Thus, its payments were voluntarily made and could not be recovered via subrogation.
