NJ Health Clinics’ Tort Immunity Narrowed by State Supreme Court

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Wednesday diminished immunity for nonprofit healthcare providers, ruling that the state’s Charitable Immunity Act didn’t insulate a nonprofit from tort claims merely because it performed some charitable and educational functions.

The unanimous court revived the slip-and-fall claim of a Newark Community Health Centers patient, reasoning that the clinic neither received enough contributions from charity nor performed enough medical education to qualify for immunity from the injury lawsuit.

The center’s mission statement and incorporation papers “make clear that it is organized to provide healthcare—not an exclusively educational purpose. And it is not organized exclusively for ...