On May 6, 2026, a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court held in Murray v. Punina that future medical expenses falling within a plaintiff's available personal injury protection (PIP) limits are “collectible” under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-12 and are therefore inadmissible at trial. For anyone litigating auto, rideshare, and transportation claims in New Jersey, this is the most consequential damages ruling in years.
Background
Lakita Murray was injured in August 2016 while riding as a passenger in a vehicle that collided with another car. Because the host vehicle was uninsured and no one in Murray's household carried auto coverage, she obtained PIP benefits through the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund, administered by the New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association, with a $250,000 medical expense limit. By the time of trial, those benefits were far from exhausted. Her medical expert nevertheless projected between $42,000 and $160,000 in future medical expenses, principally for surgeries she had elected not to undergo before trial, and she sought to place those figures before the jury.
Since the Legislature amended N.J.S.A. 39:6A-12 in 2019, and even after the Court's 2025 decision in Brehme v. Irwin confirmed that unexhausted PIP benefits barred proof of future medical expenses in that case, trial courts continued to wrestle with whether projected future treatment costs that a PIP carrier has not yet paid are “collectible” and therefore off limits.
The Decision
The Court answered that question decisively. Focusing on the statutory text, it reasoned that the Legislature's use of “collectible” sweeps more broadly than expenses already paid or incurred. If future medical treatment is reasonably expected to be covered by available PIP benefits, those expenses are, by definition, collectible under the statute and evidence of them is inadmissible in the personal injury action against the tortfeasor.
The logic is the same anti-double-recovery principle that animates New Jersey's no-fault scheme. The PIP carrier remains obligated to pay for the treatment when it is actually rendered. Allowing the plaintiff to also recover the projected cost of that same treatment from the defendant would produce exactly the duplication the statute forbids.
What It Means for New Jersey Cases
In a large share of New Jersey auto and rideshare cases, future surgery projections anchor the damages presentation: the recommended fusion, the anticipated knee replacement, the lifetime of injections. Murray takes those numbers off the board whenever they fit within the plaintiff's remaining PIP limits. Where projections exceed the available limits, only the excess should reach the jury.
The practical effect on case value is significant for both sides. Future medical expenses are frequently the largest boardable economic damage in a soft-tissue or surgical-recommendation case, and they do double duty in front of juries by framing pain-and-suffering awards. Plaintiffs will need to account for remaining PIP limits before projecting future care to a jury; defendants and carriers will recalibrate exposure accordingly.
How We Put It to Work
From the first day of any New Jersey auto file, we obtain the PIP ledger, confirm the applicable medical expense limit, and track exhaustion, because under Murray those numbers now drive what a jury will ever hear. In discovery, we pin down the projected cost of each item of future care so the arithmetic against remaining PIP benefits is undisputed, and we brief the admissibility question in limine, citing Murray and Brehme together. Whichever side of a case we are on, the decision changes settlement mathematics: boardable damages shrink when projections fall within PIP limits, and they survive only to the extent they exceed them. For our transportation and rideshare clients, whose policies typically carry substantial PIP coverage, Murray is now a standard part of every trial and settlement analysis.
This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Sanchez Maselli Trial Attorneys.