Acupuncture Healthcare Plaza I, P.C. v. Truck Ins. Exch.

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: March 11, 2016
• Docket: 2016 NYSlipOp 50309(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

Acupuncture Healthcare Plaza I, P.C. as Assignee of Bernard Absolv, Appellant,

against

Truck Insurance Exchange, Respondent.

Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Reginald A. Boddie, J.), entered May 1, 2013. The order granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with $25 costs.

In this action by a provider to recover assigned first-party no-fault benefits, defendant moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, arguing that it had properly used the workers' compensation fee schedule applicable to chiropractors who render the same services as acupuncturists to reimburse plaintiff for the acupuncture services plaintiff had rendered. The Civil Court granted defendant's motion.

Contrary to plaintiff's contention, raised in the Civil Court and on appeal, defendant established that the denial of claim form at issue had been timely mailed (see St. Vincent's Hosp. of Richmond v Government Empls. Ins. Co., 50 AD3d 1123 [2008]). Defendant further demonstrated that it had fully paid plaintiff for the services at issue in accordance with the workers' compensation fee schedule for acupuncture services performed by chiropractors (see Great Wall Acupuncture, P.C. v Geico Ins. Co., 26 Misc 3d 23 [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2009]). Consequently, defendant established its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law.

Accordingly, the order is affirmed.

Pesce, P.J., Aliotta and Elliot, JJ., concur.

Decision Date: March 11, 2016