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New Jersey Medical Providers Are Not Bound by Two-Year Time Bar in Workers’ Compensation Cases

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New Jersey Medical Providers Are Not Bound by Two-Year Time Bar in Workers’ Compensation Cases

January 22, 2019

Medical providers in New Jersey have six years from the start of service to file a claim under the state’s workers’ compensation system.

On January 17, 2019, the appellate division of the Superior Court of New Jersey rendered its decision on five consolidated medical bill claims on the issue of whether the two-year statute of limitations under N.J.S.A. 34:15-51 or the six-year statute of limitations under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1 applies to medical bill claims filed in the division of workers’ compensation for medical services rendered in connection with a workers’ compensation accident.

The court ruled that medical providers have six years (based upon contractual law) to commence a cause of action in the New Jersey Division of Workers’ Compensation from the date of the action’s accrual. In other words, medical providers have six years from the date of service to file their claim. The court reasoned that the New Jersey Legislature’s amendment of N.J.S.A. 34:15-15 in 2012 clearly did not alter medical providers’ statute of limitations under contract law.

This ruling will have major financial implications for the insurance industry. Goldberg Segalla can help you defend the implications of this decision that was approved for publication and is the law of the land unless and until reversed by a higher court in the state.

 

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