Med Mal News

Once one of New Jersey's leading medical malpractice insurers, MIIX Insurance Co., was ordered into liquidation on April 9 by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Maria Sypek. The company, in addition to insuring New Jersey doctors, also carried the policies of medical providers in 22 other states. The order has permanently stayed hundreds of cases against medical practitioners insured by MIIX, leaving claimants subject to the $300,000 recovery ceiling available through the state's Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association.

The state Department of Banking and Insurance has been running MIIX since October 2004 under an order of rehabilitation, and it has since settled many of the cases pending with the company's insureds. Although the company was still solvent and was continuing to defend, settle and pay claims, state regulators stepped in in February to ask for the company's liquidation, telling the court of the firm's projected deficit of close to $400 million, due to pending claims. The court's liquidation order leaves lawyers currently defending MIIX insureds unsure of whether they will continue in that role or will be replaced by new counsel. It has also permanently enjoined claims against MIIX, including 70 that, as of February, had already been assigned trial dates.