In re Pathmark Stores, Inc.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

SKILLMAN, P.J.A.D.

This appeal involves interpretation of the provision in the Employers’ Liability Insurance Law, N.J.S.A 34:15-70 to -93, which allows an employer that can demonstrate the financial capacity to pay workers’ compensation benefits to obtain an exemption from the obligation to insure this liability.

Appellant Pathmark Stores, Inc. and Plainbridge, LLC (Path-mark) own and operate more than one hundred supermarkets in Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In 1979, respondent Department of Banking and Insurance granted Path-mark’s…