Opinion ID: 2084163
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: and MAGAHAN v. ERSPAMER

Text: These plaintiffs seek ultimately to receive compensation under the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund Law, N.J.S.A. 39:6-61, et seq. The Fund was established for the protection, within stated limits and terms, of persons injured by the negligence of an uninsured motorist or an unknown hit-and-run driver. Plaintiffs proceed on the premise that their defendants were uninsured, which hypothesis brings the matters within the ambit of the statute. But plaintiffs cannot prevail against the Fund unless they obtain judgments against their defendants. The Fund seeks to avoid payment by challenging the sufficiency of attempts to serve the defendants. It is difficult to understand why the Fund should not be devoted to the payment of the very claims it was created to pay. The Fund correctly states that in the circumstances of the present cases the Fund statute does not authorize a direct claim against the Fund as it does with respect to a hit-and-run driver. De Vivo v. Simpkson, 51 N.J. 48 (1968); Tinsman v. Parsekian, 65 N.J. Super. 217 (App. Div. 1961); Lancellotti v. Umbach, 60 N.J. Super. 226 (Law Div. 1960). But the question is whether a mode of service should be permitted which will enable the injured party to obtain the judgment which is prerequisite to the liability of the Fund. Dobkin v. Chapman, supra, 21 N.Y. 2 d 490, 289 N.Y.S. 2 d 161, 236 N.E. 2 d 451, also involved claims against uninsured drivers for which the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation would ultimately be liable. The Corporation, which is the equivalent of our Fund, moved to set aside service upon the named defendant. The New York Court of Appeals upheld the service, finding that upon a weighing of all interests, it was just that plaintiff be permitted to proceed. We see no reason to reach a different result under our Fund statute. The Fund argues that it may not be able to determine whether the defendant was insured, and further that, if the defendant were on hand, his cooperation could be compelled under N.J.S.A. 39:6-68. Neither consideration is significant enough to deprive plaintiffs of relief. As to insurance coverage, the records of the Division of Motor Vehicles would ordinarily provide the necessary leads. With respect to a defendant's cooperation, it would be equally unavailable if the defendant disappeared after service of process. We do not believe that the Legislature intended to insulate the Fund on either account. The Fund insists it is not an authorized agent for service of process, and cites Last v. Burns, 108 N.J. Super. 525 (Law Div. 1970), which so held. Unlike the insurance carrier, the Fund has no existing contractual relations with the missing motorist. And it is also true that if the Fund is held, it will be required to pursue the defendant as an assignee of plaintiff's judgment against him. N.J.S.A. 39:6-77. It may therefore be said that the Fund is not an agent for service of process. But that does not end the matter, for the question remains whether the defendant may otherwise be served. In Dobkin v. Chapman, supra , defendant was not served by service on the New York counterpart of the Fund. Rather the existence of the New York fund was deemed a meaningful factor in deciding whether some substituted service would be just under all the circumstances. And so here, the existence of our Fund serves the same role, for the Fund shares the defendant's interest in defending the suit against him, and the satisfaction of the injured party's claim will further the public interest which underlies the creation of the Fund. Hence we are satisfied that where, as here, it appears from an adequate investigation that the defendant cannot be served by any of the prescribed modes, it is appropriate to order substitute service under R. 4:4-4(i). In the circumstances of these cases, that mode should be ordinary mail to defendant at his last known address. The order should also provide for notice to the Fund, not thereby to achieve service on the defendant, but rather to apprise the Fund of a situation with which it may be concerned.