Courtside by Larry Rogak brings to the fore cases and decisions of relevance to doing insurance business. Some of the results are, in a word, “unbelievable”.
Robins v City of Long Beach, 2021 NY Slip Op 01277 (App. Div., 2d Dept, 3/03/21) When Wendy Robins was walking past a condominium building under construction in the seaside community of Long Beach, New York, she stepped onto a curb adjacent to an unfinished driveway apron, and fell. She sued the owner of the […]
For nearly four years now, New York auto insurers have awaited with trepidation a decision from New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department, on a question of great urgency: is “policy exhaustion” a complete defense to a PIP lawsuit (or arbitration) if the policy became exhausted after the claim was denied? The general rule of policy […]
Attorneys who defend foreclosure actions often employ a defense called “produce the note.” Because mortgage notes often change hands (i.e., are sold) between the time the mortgage is taken out and the time of foreclosure, the foreclosing bank sometimes doesn’t have the actual note — and this may defeat the foreclosure action. But New York’s […]
In People v Monroe (18SC708, decided 29 June 2020), the Colorado Supreme Court held that “in light of Colorado’s long-standing no-duty-to-retreat rule which permits non-aggressors to stand their ground when acting in self-defense,” a prosecutor may not argue that a defendant’s failure to retreat undermines the reasonableness of her self-defense argument.” As a result, a defendant’s conviction […]
Motor Vehicle Accident Indem. Corp. v Bader & Yakaitis LLP et al., 2020 NY Slip Op 50798(U) Supreme Court, New York County, Index No. 450314/2019. Decided 08 July 2020 This lawsuit arose out of a motor vehicle accident where a claimant was injured by an uninsured motorist. When a settlement was reached with the tortfeasor, […]
Brand Medical Supply v. Unitrin Advantage Ins. Co., 2020 NY Slip Op 50687 (App Term 2d Dept) Many kinds of lawsuits require, or at least employ, expert witnesses on a wide variety of topics, and indeed it seems that for every topic there is an expert somewhere who is willing to testify (and another one […]
Wave Med. Servs., P.C. v Farmers New Century Ins. Co., 2020 NY Slip Op 50555(U) (Appellate Term, Second Department) In this action by a medical provider to recover assigned first-party no-fault benefits, plaintiff Wave Medical Services, P.C. moved for summary judgment and defendant Farmers New Century Insurance Co. cross-moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. In […]
New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department, cleared up a question which apparently needed clarification: when an injured party receives a SUM award from an arbitrator, that award gets offset by whatever recovery the claimant made from the tortfeasor.In Matter of Merchant v State Farm Ins. Company, 2020 NY Slip Op 01917 (Decided on March 18, […]
New York’s top court ruled today that an attorney faces no liability or penalty of any kind for giving a client bad advice that induces him to file a lawsuit that has no legal merit. Plaintiffs, a New York corporation that manufacturers and distributes decorative metal automotive parts for antique autos, alleged that defendants, their former […]
Bill Birds Inc. v Stein Law Firm, 2020 NY Slip Op 02125 (NY Court of Appeals, 3/31/2020) New York’s top court ruled today that an attorney faces no liability or penalty of any kind for giving a client bad advice that induces him to file a lawsuit that has no legal merit. Plaintiffs, a New […]
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