Fabian v. Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corp.
Cases that cite this one
16 later published cases cite this decision.
- Richards v. Select Ins. Co., Inc. (District Court, S.D. New York 1999)
- New York & Presbyterian Hospital v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2001)
- Gonyon v. Transtate Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
- Mount Sinai Hospital v. Triboro Coach, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
- Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. National Union Fire Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)
- Unigard Insurance Group v. Bothwell (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1997)
- Haslauer v. North Country Adirondack Cooperative Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1997)
- Presbyterian Hospital in City of New York v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1996)
- Wraight v. Exchange Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1996)
- Macon v. Arnlie Realty Co. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1994)
- Hanover Insurance v. Suffolk Overhead Door Co. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1994)
- Dryden Central School District v. Dryden Aquatic Racing Team (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1993)
- Polak v. City of Schenectady (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1992)
- United States Liability Insurance v. Young (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1992)
- Elmuccio v. Allstate Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)
- Massachusetts Bay Insurance v. Flood (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1987)
This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.
Opinion of the Court
Appeal by the
Judgment reversed, on the law, with costs to MVAIC payable by Allstate, and Allstate’s disclaimer is determined to be invalid.
Allstate, in its letter of disclaimer, failed to assert the alleged noncooperation of its insured. Thus, Allstate cannot now assert that reason as a basis for its disclaimer (General Acc. Ins. Group v Cirucci, 46 NY2d 862, 864).
“Although an insurer may disclaim coverage for a valid reason (Insurance Law § [3420 (d)]) the notice of disclaimer must promptly apprise the claimant with a high degree of specificity of the ground or grounds on which the disclaimer is predicated. Absent such specific notice, a claimant might have difficulty assessing whether the insurer will be able to disclaim successfully. This uncertainty could prejudice the claimant’s ability to ultimately obtain recovery. In addition, the insurer’s responsibility to furnish notice of the specific ground on which the disclaimer is based is not unduly burdensome, the insurer being highly experienced and sophisticated in such matters” (General Acc. Ins. Group v Cirucci, supra, at p 864).
The only ground stated in the disclaimer letter, to wit, the insured’s failure to notify Allstate of the accident, was not effective as against petitioners. As injured third parties, petitioners may seek recovery from an insured’s carrier despite the failure of the insured to provide timely notice of the accident (Insurance Law § 3420 [a] [3]; see, Lauritano v American Fid. Fire Ins. Co., 3 AD2d 564, affd 4 NY2d 1028). While under the facts of this case, a disclaimer might have been made based upon late notice by petitioners themselves, the failure to raise this ground in the disclaimer letter precludes consideration of this ground for disclaiming coverage.
Accordingly, we determine that Allstate’s disclaimer is not valid.
In light of our determination, we need not reach the issue of the timeliness of Allstate’s disclaimer. Mangano, J. P., Gibbons, Niehoff and Lawrence, JJ., concur.
Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.