**462In this appeal, we consider what impact a driver's failure to inform his auto insurance carrier about litigation against an underinsured tortfeasor has on the driver's later ability to collect on his underinsured motorist ("UIM") policy. Specifically, we address to what extent a carrier is required to pay a UIM claim when its subrogation rights are totally nullified.
Plaintiff Robert Ferrante was involved in an automobile accident in 2006 where the other motorist ("the tortfeasor") indisputably caused the collision. Without informing his auto insurance carrier, defendant New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group ("NJM"), Ferrante initiated a negligence lawsuit against the tortfeasor, who had a liability limit of $100,000 on his insurance policy. The parties participated in mandatory arbitration, which set Ferrante's damages at $90,000. Again, without informing NJM and allowing it to exercise its subrogation rights, Ferrante rejected the **463award, and sought a trial de novo. He also refused a $50,000 settlement offer without notifying NJM.
Prior to the trial, Ferrante entered into a high-low agreement with the tortfeasor, which set the range of damages between $25,000 and $100,000, notwithstanding a jury verdict. Ferrante did not communicate this agreement or the trial itself to NJM, either. Following the trial, a jury awarded plaintiff $200,000 in damages, but the Law Division entered a judgment of $100,000 based on the high-low agreement.
For the first time in 2011, Ferrante sent NJM a letter required by Longworth v. Van Houten,
NJM moved to dismiss the complaint, and the Law Division granted the motion, finding that Ferrante violated Longworth by not notifying NJM of any of the proceedings with the tortfeasor. On appeal, a split panel of the Appellate Division reversed. The majority held that because the trial court did not consider if NJM was actually prejudiced by the lack of notice, a remand was needed to determine if NJM sustained any prejudice.
We disagree. In Zirger v. General Accident Insurance Co.,
I.
A.
Ferrante was in a motor vehicle collision with the tortfeasor on October 2, 2006. The parties do not dispute that the tortfeasor was at fault for the collision and that his policy's limit was $100,000. Aside from the tortfeasor's insurance coverage, he is essentially without assets to pay damages that exceed $100,000.
At the time of the accident, Ferrante's policy with NJM provided for $300,000 in UIM coverage. The policy required Ferrante to "promptly" send NJM any legal papers regarding litigation and to "notify [NJM] in writing of a tentative settlement" with the underinsured motorist's insurance carrier. This process gave NJM thirty days to pay the insured the tortfeasor's insurance carrier's offer in order to preserve its subrogation rights. The policy also required Ferrante to do "whatever is necessary to enable NJM to exercise" its subrogation rights and do "[n]othing after loss to prejudice" those rights.
Instead of contacting NJM, Ferrante and his wife initiated a lawsuit against the tortfeasor in 2008, asserting negligence claims and the wife's per quod claims. Ferrante did not notify NJM of the suit. The parties proceeded to arbitration. In May 2010, the arbitrator awarded Ferrante $90,000 for his injuries and $10,000 in lost wages, but he rejected that offer without noticing NJM. He moved for a trial de novo in the Law Division in June 2010.
The tortfeasor offered to settle with Ferrante for $50,000. He alternately proposed a high-low agreement that would limit damages notwithstanding the exact amount of the verdict. The agreement set the floor of damages at $25,000 and the ceiling at $100,000. Ferrante rejected the settlement offer, but accepted the high-low agreement. He did not notify NJM of either proposal, or of his acceptance of the high-low agreement.
**465At the ensuing trial de novo in January 2011, in which NJM did not participate, a jury found the tortfeasor one hundred percent liable. The jury awarded Ferrante $200,000 in damages, and his wife $50,000 on her claim. However, due to the high-low agreement, the trial court molded the entire award to $100,000, and entered judgment.
On January 12, 2011, the day after the judgment, Ferrante's counsel sent NJM a letter. He told NJM that "the tortfeasor's carrier has tendered the policy limits of $100,000 in exchange for execution of a Release in favor of the tortfeasor," and requested NJM's consent to settle. Additionally, he informed NJM that Ferrante would pursue UIM arbitration for his injuries beyond the $100,000. The letter failed to mention any of the prior offers, the high-low agreement, the arbitration, the completed trial with a molded award or the judgment.
Two weeks later, NJM responded and indicated it had performed an asset investigation regarding the tortfeasor. NJM authorized Ferrante to settle, and waived its subrogation rights. It then began to seek information about the UIM claim.
*1137B.
In October 2012, Ferrante filed the instant UIM claim in the Law Division, and the parties engaged in discovery. Not until 2014 did Ferrante inform NJM about the $250,000 judgment in the prior litigation. NJM filed a motion in limine seeking to limit Ferrante's recovery to $50,000-what NJM considered to be the difference between the tortfeasor judgment and the $300,000 UIM policy limit.
Shortly thereafter, Ferrante's attorney disclosed to NJM that his client had entered into the high-low agreement with the tortfeasor that capped damages at $100,000. NJM then amended its motion in limine to instead move for a dismissal, claiming that Ferrante had improperly waived NJM's subrogation rights. NJM argued that Ferrante had violated **466Zirger,
The Law Division dismissed the complaint in an oral decision on February 28, 2014.
Ferrante appealed, arguing that NJM had waived its subrogation rights by authorizing him to accept the tortfeasor's settlement offer. Further, he alleged that NJM waived its Longworth defense by not raising it during discovery.
In a two-to-one decision, with Judge Accurso dissenting, the Appellate Division reversed the trial court. The majority first found that Ferrante did not waive his UIM coverage by entering into the high-low agreement. The court noted that the agreement did not reflect the value of the case, but rather was a contractual protection that Ferrante entered into to mitigate the inherent risk of a jury trial. The $100,000 range, the court wrote, was a logical cap because it was the limit of the tortfeasor's policy, as Ferrante had determined his adversary was without assets.
The majority next determined that NJM needed to demonstrate prejudice from the deficient Longworth notice in order to void the UIM policy. The court distinguished Ferrante's situation from the setting of this Court's opinion in Vassas,
Because the trial judge did not address the issue of prejudice, the court remanded the matter to analyze whether Ferrante's failure to provide a timely Longworth notice actually prejudiced NJM. In that deliberation, the court placed the burden on Ferrante.
In a dissent, Judge Accurso disagreed that NJM must demonstrate prejudice in order to void the UIM claim. Rather, she found that Ferrante's failure to provide any notice to NJM during the initial suit and his later omission of the trial proceedings and high-low agreement caused NJM's subrogation rights to be "irretrievably *1138lost." She concluded the case fit squarely within Vassas and thus would have ruled in favor of NJM.
NJM filed its appeal as of right under Rule 2:2-1(a)(2). Our review is limited to the issue raised by Judge Accurso.
II.
NJM argues that this Court should adopt Judge Accurso's reasoning in her dissenting opinion and reverse the Appellate Division's judgment. It advocates that delaying disclosure and omitting information were intentional acts that robbed NJM of its rights to subrogation or participation in the trial with the tortfeasor. NJM argues that Ferrante cannot be entitled to UIM benefits because he sent the required Longworth letter two years after the initial settlement offer. Although NJM concedes that an insured who negligently did not send a Longworth notice may be entitled to UIM benefits, in Ferrante's situation, where he strategically opted against sending the notice, the right to UIM coverage is destroyed.
Ferrante, on the other hand, denies deceiving NJM and urges this Court to affirm the Appellate Division's opinion and allow the trial court to determine if NJM was prejudiced. Ferrante admits that his Longworth notice was defective, but faults NJM for **468failing to raise this deficiency until after discovery and only on the eve of trial.
Additionally, Ferrante asserts that he was not required to notify NJM at all prior to an offer from the tortfeasor, which he says did not occur until immediately prior to the tortfeasor trial. He also argues that Vassas only requires the insured to notify a carrier when there is an offer for the policy limits of the tortfeasor. Further, he argues the notice requirement in Zirger gives him the option of informing NJM of a settlement offer, and is not a mandate. Prior to the judgment, he argues, he had no reason to believe that the claim would be worth the tortfeasor's $100,000 policy limit.
III.
A.
When reviewing a grant of summary judgment, an appellate court employs the same standards used by the motion judge. Bhagat v. Bhagat,
B.
Our case law has routinely emphasized the importance of candor by insureds and the obligation to act in a forthright, open, and honest manner with their carriers throughout the entire process of their claim. See **469Longobardi v. Chubb Ins. Co. of N.J.,
The relationship between an insurer and the insured is contractual, but the obligation to offer UIM coverage is derived from statute. See Zirger,
The Legislature requires carriers "to offer each insured the option of purchasing coverage up to the limits of liability coverage, but not exceeding $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident against the risk of injury caused by underinsured tortfeasors or a single limit of $500,000." Zirger,
In Zirger, we outlined the right of UIM carriers to intervene in trials against tortfeasors as a way to avoid relitigating a plaintiff's claim and as a method of binding them to the issues at trial. Id. at 340-42,
This duty to notify in the UIM context is intended to protect a carrier's right of subrogation. Ferrante's policy with NJM specifically provided for a subrogation right, which allows the "subrogee in effect [to] step into the shoes of the insured and ... recover only if the insured likewise could have recovered." Standard Accident Ins. Co. v. Pellecchia,
In Longworth, the Appellate Division grappled with an insured's initial obligation to attempt to recover from a tortfeasor prior to pursuing UIM benefits from his carrier.
*1140Longworth noted the tension in this process, as the insurer would inevitably seek to keep the damages low, thus providing the insured with minimal recovery for his injuries.
We sought to balance the tensions of UIM subrogation cases in Vassas,
To protect those interests, we identified the occasions when the insured must notify the carrier: (1) when he or she takes legal action against the tortfeasor; (2) "[i]f, during the pendency of the claim, the tortfeasor's insurance coverage proves insufficient to satisfy the insured's damages"; and (3) if the insured is seeking UIM benefits because he or she "receive[d] a settlement offer or arbitration award that does not completely satisfy the claim, because the tortfeasor is underinsured."
In explicitly ratifying the Longworth holding, we held that after receiving notice in the third scenario, the carrier either can "offer to pay the insured the amount of the tortfeasor's settlement offer or the arbitration award, usually the tortfeasor's policy limit, in exchange for subrogation of the insured's rights against the tortfeasor; or, allow the insured to settle."
Based on the facts presented in Vassas, we found in favor of the carrier.
**472Following Vassas, the Appellate Division analyzed several cases involving disputed UIM benefits. The Appellate Division has found that an insured who accepted a settlement offer after informing his carrier of the offer, but before he received permission, did not necessarily violate Longworth. Breitenbach v. Motor Club of Am. Ins. Co.,
In Rivers, the Appellate Division found for the carrier when the insured sent two letters informing the carrier of litigation but failed to detail that he had already settled the case. Rivers v. Allstate Ins. Co.,
And in Cave, the insured initiated a lawsuit against two tortfeasors and properly informed the carrier. CNA Ins. Cos. v. Cave,
IV.
With those principles in mind, we turn to whether Ferrante's actions violated Longworth and Vassas to the extent that they vitiated his ability to seek UIM benefits from NJM.
**473Despite Ferrante's efforts to distinguish his case from Vassas, we find Vassas precludes him from recovering UIM benefits. Like in Vassas, where the insured initiated a lawsuit and received an arbitration award without informing the carrier, Ferrante did the same. He further violated his duty to inform NJM by entering into a high-low agreement and taking the matter through a full jury trial without informing NJM.
In addition, Ferrante improperly extinguished NJM's right under Zirger to participate in the trial and mitigate damages in some way. Zirger is not premised on the idea that the insured has to give notice to the carrier only if he thinks the UIM claim will exceed the policy limit. The purpose of this notice is to give a carrier the opportunity to pay the insured the settlement proceeds and then try the case itself as if in the insured's shoes. At minimum, the notice allows the carrier to participate in the trial to whatever extent the trial court allows. By virtue of Ferrante's actions in this case, NJM lost that subrogation option.
Ferrante has also attempted to rely on our precedent in Green v. Selective Insurance Co. of America,
A plaintiff's duty to notify the UIM carrier is not mitigated by plaintiff's earlier notice of a PIP claim. An insurer's handling of an earlier PIP claim does not create a presumption that the insurer has received notice of the later claim against the tortfeasors.
Unlike in Green, where the carrier had the opportunity to exercise its subrogation rights after the initial settlement offer and chose not to, NJM here was never told about the arbitration, high-low agreement, jury verdict, or judgment until after the events occurred. A prejudice determination here is not needed unlike in Green, where the carrier waived its subrogation rights, because NJM never had the opportunity to exercise its rights.
Further, the cited Appellate Division cases are distinguishable due to the numerous times Ferrante failed to inform NJM. In **474Breitenbach and Rivers, the insured informed the carrier during litigation, and both cases dealt more with at which point, if any, it was appropriate for the insured to accept the settlement offer without the carrier's consent. Here, we never reach that point because Ferrante did not inform NJM of the litigation until more than two years after it was initiated and actually completed. Similarly, this case did not involve a day-of-trial settlement or include multiple tortfeasors, as in Cave; here, the single tortfeasor was well known, and NJM was still kept in the dark throughout.
As a defense to his actions, Ferrante has argued that if he negligently, rather than *1142intentionally, violated Longworth, the trial court should conduct a prejudice analysis. We conclude that due to the numerous landmarks where Ferrante could have, and should have, but did not notify NJM, we need not address his state of mind or weigh any potential prejudice to the carrier.
Our decision here is not rooted in Ferrante's state of mind, but rather in his actions. We ratify the following approach suggested by the dissenting judge:
If ... the insured, regardless of his state of mind, fails to give the UIM carrier any notice of the UIM claim until after the final resolution of the underlying tort action, thereby causing the irretrievable loss of the carrier's rights to subrogation and intervention before the carrier has ever learned of the existence of the claim, coverage is forfeited.
By delaying notice to NJM, Ferrante violated the terms of his policy, Longworth, Vassas, and Zirger, which required him to inform NJM as soon as the lawsuit was brought-not after arbitration, a high-low agreement, or a jury trial. Those requirements seek to protect NJM's right to subrogation, which was clearly extinguished by Ferrante's actions, irrespective of his state of mind.
**475V.
Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division and reinstate the trial court's order.
CHIEF JUSTICE RABNER and JUSTICES LaVECCHIA, ALBIN, PATTERSON, SOLOMON, and TIMPONE join in JUSTICE FERNANDEZ-VINA's opinion.
After oral argument, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of NJM in an oral decision. The granted order noted it as a motion in limine.
Counsel for NJM suggests that if the insured's failure to provide notice was the result of pure negligence, and there was no misleading conduct, it may be appropriate to impose a rebuttable presumption of prejudice and place the burden on the insured to show the absence of prejudice. We need not resolve that issue in this case.