On January 18th, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy enacted an insurance bad faith statute for auto insurers.

The bill, Senate Bill 1559, titled "New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act," establishes a private cause of action for first-party claimants regarding certain unfair, descriminatory, or unreasonable practices by their insurer.

The original version of the Bill applied to all lines of insurance, but it has since been pared down and currently only applies to underinsured and uninsured motorists (UM/UIM) claims.