Court Opinion

ID: 9750699
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:23:34.568057+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:18.968186
License: Public Domain

Justice ALBIN,
concurring.
In this case, plaintiffs sued their underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage carrier, First Trenton Insurance Co. (First Trenton), for uncompensated damages from an automobile accident caused by Joseph Bologna. With the trial court’s approval, the attorney defending First Trenton misrepresented to the jury that his client was the tortfeasor, Bologna, and not the insurance company. That deception, echoed by the trial court, was intended to hide from the jury the fact that the case was about insurance coverage. The majority now holds that the deception that occurred in this case is a permissible approach—a necessary evil—to ensure an insurance company a fair trial.
Whether in a UIM case or any other insurance coverage case, I believe that the jury can handle the truth, that the jury can be trusted to be fail’ to the true parties in interest, and that feeding fictions to the jury is an unacceptable way to run a transparent court system. I also believe that a properly instructed jury—even in an insurance coverage case—is capable of rendering a fail’ verdict. In courtrooms throughout this State, juries hear sensa*283tional cases widely reported in the press, sometimes involving notorious defendants or plaintiffs, but we have faith that carefully selected jurors given proper legal guidance will do justice. I see no reason to depart from that paradigm for an insurance company in a UIM coverage ease.
I concur with the majority that this case must be remanded for a new trial, but in my opinion the primary error—the one that set the stage for the other missteps identified by the majority—was allowing First Trenton’s attorney to falsely claim that he represented Bologna, who apparently had no clue that his name had been misappropriated for the benefit of the insurance company.
Significantly, the Appellate Division questioned the “wisdom of not telling the jury the truth about who the defendant is.” Bardis v. First Trenton Ins. Co., 397 N.J.Super. 138, 151 n. 3, 936 A.2d 476 (App.Div.2007). Here, the trial judge instructed the jury that Bologna was the defendant, id. at 147, 936 A.2d 476, when, in truth, First Trenton was the defendant. The appellate panel was uneasy with the patronizing approach taken with the jury. The panel noted that “[jJudges routinely instruct jurors to disregard testimony improperly admitted or other inappropriate behavior that occurs during a trial,” and that the jury is presumed to follow the limiting instructions. Id. at 151 n. 3, 936 A.2d 476. Indeed, the panel “perceive[d] no difference between those circumstances,” and those in which a “plaintiff has instituted a lawsuit against its own insurance carrier” and the jury is instructed that the insurance company’s status as a party “ ‘has no relevancy on the issue of damages.’ ” Id. at 151 & n. 3, 936 A.2d 476 (quoting Wenz v. Allstate Ins. Co., 316 N.J.Super. 570, 580, 720 A.2d 989 (App.Div. 1998)).
It bears repeating that in a multitude of instances, such as where other-crime evidence is introduced at trial, see N.J.R.E. 404(b), we depend on limiting instructions to avert any prejudice that might flow from the improper use of such information by the jury. See N.J.R.E. 105 (“[T]he judge, upon request, shall restrict the evidence to its proper scope and shall instruct the jury *284accordingly, but may permit a party to waive a limiting instruction.”). In an insurance coverage case, as in Wenz, the jury is told that the value of the damages must be determined based on the evidence “unaffected by the fact that plaintiff seeks recovery from his insurer.” Wenz, supra, 316 N.J.Super, at 580, 720 A.2d 989. In such cases, the presumption that the jury follows the trial court’s instructions is “[o]ne of the foundations of our jury system.” State v. Burns, 192 N.J. 312, 335, 929 A.2d 1041 (2007).
I do not understand the purpose of having a special carve-out from our judicial policy of transparency in UIM coverage cases. After all, the complaint is a public record available for inspection in the courthouse, see R. 1:38, and from a review of the complaint anyone would be able to identify the true parties and the nature of the claim, see R. 4:5-1 and -2. Moreover, once our jurisprudence permits a judge to he to the jury to avoid the necessity of giving a limiting instruction to cabin in potentially prejudicial information, where will the law of unintended consequences take us? Will a fast-food giant argue that it should be allowed to take the pseudonym of Joe’s Cafe so the jury will not be swayed that a deep pocket can be tapped? Will a defendant charged with committing a sensational crime contend that he should be allowed to cloak himself with a fictitious identity to ensure a fair trial?
Other jurisdictions that have considered similar issues have rejected the approach taken by the majority. See, e.g., Lamz v. Geico Gen. Ins. Co., 803 So.2d 593, 595-96 (Fla.2001) (“[Wjhen the uninsured or underinsured motorist carrier is properly named as a party defendant, it must be identified as such. We have made it clear that the jury should know who the parties are, and in this case, the jury was not fully apprised of Geico’s specific party status. This was reversible error.”); Earle v. Cobb, 156 S.W.3d 257, 260 (Ky.2004) (“Kentucky is not alone in recognizing the right of a plaintiff to bring a contract claim against his or her UIM carrier and have that UIM carrier identified as such at trial.”); Tucker v. McQuery, 107 Ohio Misc.2d 38, 42, 736 N.E.2d 574 (1999) (“[Jjurors have the right to know who the real party in *285interest is. In the case of automobile accidents, there is almost invariably an insurance company involved.”); Lima v. Chambers, 657 P.2d 279, 285 (Utah 1982) (“The identity of the intervening insurance company should be made known to the jury----”); State ex rel. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Canady, 197 W.Va. 107, 475 S.E.2d 107, 113 (1996) (recognizing case law holdings in other jurisdictions that “the jury is entitled to be aware of the uninsured carrier’s identity”).
In closing, I would hold that the jury in a UIM coverage case, as in every other case, is entitled to know who the true parties are to the action. Here, the initial misrepresentation to the jury, which was responsible for the cascading mistakes that followed, proves the old adage: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, / When first we practice to deceive!” Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, canto I, intro., st. 17 (1808), quoted in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations 378 (John Bartlett & Justin Kaplan eds., 16th ed. 1992).
For reversal and, remandment—Chief Justice RABNER and Justices LONG, LaVECCHIA, ALBIN, WALLACE, RIVERA-SOTO and HOENS—7.
Opposed—None.