Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997

DeSantis Bros. v. Allstate Insurance

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided November 13, 1997

244 A.D.2d 183; 664 N.Y.S.2d 7; 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11375

Cases that cite this one

8 later published cases cite this decision.

The Travelers Indemnity Company v. Northrop Grumman Corporation (District Court, S.D. New York 2019)
New York University v. First Financial Insurance Company (1st Cir. 2003)
New York University v. First Financial Insurance (2d Cir. 2003)
Schulman v. Indian Harbor Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2007)
Tully Construction Co. v. TIG Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2007)
St. Charles Hospital & Rehabilitation Center v. Royal Globe Insurance (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2005)
New York Central Mutual Fire Insurance v. Majid (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2004)
Artis v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1998)

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

—Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Emily Goodman, J.), entered on or about July 18, 1996, which, inter alia, granted defendant Allstate’s cross motion for summary judgment and declared that Allstate timely disclaimed liability under its policy, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

Allstate was first notified of a personal liability action against its insured, Brus Corp., almost four years after that action was commenced. Allstate’s May 2, 1986 letter advising Brus of its violation of the prompt notification provision of the policy, and *184stating that “[therefore * * * we must disclaim coverage for Brus in this case”, was no less a disclaimer letter by virtue of the fact that the letter also offered to defend Brus, while reserving Allstate’s rights and reaffirming that it would not indemnify Brus (compare, Hartford Ins. Co. v County of Nassau, 46 NY2d 1028). The 31 days that it took Allstate’s attorneys to review the 500-page file and conduct legal research before notifying Brus of the disclaimer was not unreasonable for purposes of Insurance Law § 3420 (d). We have considered plaintiffs’ remaining arguments and find them to be without merit. Concur—Sullivan, J. P., Milonas, Rosenberger and Williams, JJ.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.