Authorizes Justin Finkle to take the competitive civil service examination for the position of police officer and be placed on the eligible list for employment as a police officer for the town of Bethlehem

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Pat Fahy

Requires naming insurance defendants by their legal, not assumed, names throughout litigation and trial to improve transparency for juries.

REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE

Summary — S.4499 (2025)

Status and procedural history
- Bill number: S 4499. Introduced in the Senate on May 19, 2025.
- Reported by Senate Commerce Committee with amendments (May 22, 2025). Passed the Senate 26–11 (June 2, 2025). Reported and committed to Finance (May 27, 2025). Received in the Assembly June 12, 2025 and referred to the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee.
- Senate sponsors (per committee print): Senator Nicholas P. Scutari and Senator Jon M. Bramnick. An Assembly companion is A772; Patricia Fahy is identified as a primary Assembly sponsor.

Purpose and intent
- To require that defendants — including insurance companies named as defendants in civil litigation — be properly identified throughout the litigation process and at trial by their legal, registered corporate name rather than by assumed, trade, or fictitious names. The stated goal is greater transparency and clarity for triers of fact (e.g., juries).

Key provisions (as amended)
- Requires that in causes of action for recovery of damages, defendants (including insurance companies named as defendants) be “properly identified” during litigation and trial.
- When an insurance company is named as a defendant, it must be referred to by its legal name as filed with the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, not by an assumed or fictitious name.
- Triers of fact at trial must be informed of the defendant insurance company’s legal name.
- Committee amendments removed earlier provisions that would have made the insurer the sole named defendant in liability actions and removed language limiting application by insurance line (original exclusions for annuities were removed). The committee also updated the bill title and its effective-date language to apply to all causes of action (the exact effective-date text is not shown in the committee statement).

Who is affected
- Plaintiffs, defendants, defense and plaintiff counsel, courts and clerks, insurance companies and their claims/legal departments, and juries/triers of fact. The change affects pleading, discovery, trial materials, and courtroom reference to corporate defendants.

Potential impact and considerations
- Administrative/legal: parties will need to confirm and use insurers’ exact legal names in pleadings, notices, and at trial; courts may need to ensure juries are informed of legal names.
- Litigation practice: the amendment clarifies naming/identification but (as amended) does not mandate insurers be the exclusive or sole defendant — it does not directly change substantive liability, coverage rules, or whom plaintiffs may sue besides insurers.
- Transparency: proponents would say juries and the record will more clearly reflect which legal entity is defending a claim; opponents might note added procedural burden with little change to substantive rights.

Notes
- The committee amendments narrowed the original, broader provisions. The final effective-date wording and any additional Assembly amendments will determine when and how broadly the requirement applies in practice.