Insurers Cap Mayors Civil Union Coverage

February 2, 2007

By JOHN WIHBEY
Star-Ledger

Public officials who choose to defy the state's new civil unions law will find themselves largely out of luck — and insurance funds — if lawsuits are filed against their towns.

The Municipal Excess Liability Joint Insurance Fund — which serves 374 member towns in the state — has passed a policy to cap payouts on civil union discrimination claims at $25,000.

The local Morris County fund recently approved an identical policy.

The fund's policy would limit the amount paid to towns for claims arising out of any loss, cost, or expense pertaining to … the performance, failure to perform or refusal to perform a marriage or civil union, according to county fund documents.

The state attorney general has ruled that officials who perform marriages must also make themselves available to perform civil unions, though they may avoid the issue altogether by choosing to do neither. That legal clarification follows landmark legislation passed Dec. 14 that allowed gay civil unions in New Jersey, a law that will go into effect Feb. 19.

The statewide insurance fund passed the policy on Jan. 3 to preempt attempts by officials to use public insurance funds to challenge the law and essentially finance a test case, according to David Grubb, the fund's executive director.

He said it appeared that some officials might challenge the law by performing marriages but not civil unions, and it would not be appropriate to spend public money in order to fight that issue up and down the courts.

Though the statewide insurance pool is not required to provide funds for intentiona violations of the law, it must provide insurance money until a judge determines the law-breaking was deliberate, Grubb said. That little catch could have cost a seven-digit number in insurance payouts, he said.

The Morris County Joint Insurance Fund, which insures 30 of the county's 39 municipalities, unanimously passed the resolution Jan. 10 capping payouts, said Ellen Sandman, a commissioner who oversees coverage issues with the fund. She said, The law is the law, and the county fund moved to bring its policies in line with the evolving situation.

Denville Mayor and Freeholder Gene Feyl, who initially said he would not perform a civil union if asked to by a gay couple, said yesterday he no longer objects to it, and his thinking has changed since Attorney General Stuart Rabner's ruling clarifying the matter.

But the mayor said his schedule is now too busy to continue performing nuptials.

Feyl also said he embraces the insurance fund's policy change. I certainly support that because I don't think that many municipalities want to fund a lawsuit for someone consciously violating the law, he said.

Chester Township Mayor Benjamin Spinelli, who said he will perform civil unions, applauded the insurance cap, saying the mayoralty is not a forum for our personal views … Civil unions exist. It now comes with the duties of the office.

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