Blinbaum v. Chan

Blinbaum v Chan (2025 NY Slip Op 06804)

Blinbaum v Chan

2025 NY Slip Op 06804

Decided on December 09, 2025

Appellate Division, First Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided and Entered: December 09, 2025
Before: Moulton, J.P., Kapnick, Mendez, Shulman, Hagler, JJ.
Index No. 151012/20|Appeal No. 5315|Case No. 2025-01837|

Rosenberg Fortuna & Laitman, LLP, Garden City (Joseph P. Sacco of counsel), for appellant.

Ahmuty, Demers & McManus, Albertson (Daniel J. Horowitz of counsel), for respondents.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Lori S. Sattler, J.), entered on or about March 14, 2025, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied plaintiff's motion to compel discovery, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The court properly denied plaintiff's motion to compel production of the insurance claim file and related documents. "Documents in an insurer's claim file, including an accident investigation report, that were prepared for litigation against its insured are immune from disclosure" (Dabo v One Hudson Yards Owner, LLC, 176 AD3d 631, 632 [1st Dept 2019]). Plaintiff, who is not listed on the policy, i.e., a third-party, is not entitled to the materials in defendants' insurer's claim file, and plaintiff did not show a substantial need for the materials or an inability to obtain their substantial equivalent without undue hardship (see Markel v Pure Power Boot Camp, Inc., 171 AD3d 28, 31 [1st Dept 2019]; Veltre v Rainbow Convenience Store, Inc., 146 AD3d 416, 417 [1st Dept 2017]). THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: December 9, 2025