Bauman v. Royal Indem. Co

In Bauman v. Royal Indem. Co., 36 N.J. 12, 174 A.2d 585 (1961), after reviewing the rules prevailing in other jurisdictions, the Supreme Court, through Justice Jacobs, held: We fully subscribe to the aforecited decisions and to the elemental principle of business morality and decency which they embody. When an insured purchases an original policy of insurance he may be expected to read it and the law may fairly impose upon him such restrictions, conditions and limitations as the average insured would ascertain from such reading. However, where the stated period of coverage in the original policy is about to expire and the insurance company simply sends a renewal policy for the new period of coverage, the insured, in all likelihood, will not read it over again and may not fairly be expected to do so. Absent notification that there have been changes in the restrictions, conditions or limitations of the policy, the insured is justly entitled to assume that they remain the same and that his coverage has not in anywise been lessened. The carrier had the undoubted right, by appropriate alteration in the terms of its policies, to restrict coverage in later renewals but, in such event, common fairness as well as legal duty dictated that it call the lessened coverage to the attention of the insureds so that they might suitably protect themselves. This it might readily have done in simple fashion; for example, it might have attached to the renewal policies or forwarded with them, slip notices to the effect that there had been language alterations and that the renewal policies were not intended to provide the same coverage as previously. 36 N.J. at 25-26, 174 A.2d 585.