Abbey Richmond Ambulance Service, Inc. v. Northbrook Property & Casualty Insurance

281 A.D.2d 501, 721 N.Y.S.2d 796, 2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4195

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: March 19, 2001
• Status: Published

Opinion

—In an action for a judgment declaring that the defendants are obligated to defend and indemnify the plaintiff in an action entitled Nichols v Abbey Richmond Ambulance Serv., pending in the Supreme Court, Westchester County, under Index No. 6427/96, the defendants appeal from a judgment of the same court (Donovan, J.), entered September 14, 2000, which, inter alia, made the declaration.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.

“ ‘An insured’s good faith belief in nonliability, when reasonable under the circumstances, may excuse a delay in notifying his * * * insurer of an accident’ ” (Chimenti v Allstate Ins. Co., 253 AD2d 534; see, Argentina v Otsego Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 207 AD2d 816, affd 86 NY2d 748). The Supreme Court properly found that the plaintiff demonstrated a good faith, reasonable belief in nonliability so as to excuse its eight-month delay in notifying the defendants of the underlying accident. Neither the manner in which the accident occurred, the apparently trivial nature of the injury, nor the medical treatment rendered would have made a prudent person believe that a personal injury claim would be pursued (see, Briggs v Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 176 AD2d 1113; cf., New York Cent. Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v Riley, 234 AD2d 279). O’Brien, J. P., Krausman, Florio and Schmidt, JJ., concur.