Dyer v. Great Eastern Insurance

71 Misc. 2d 89, 335 N.Y.S.2d 771, 1972 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1628
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 17, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 71 Misc. 2d 89 (Dyer v. Great Eastern Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dyer v. Great Eastern Insurance, 71 Misc. 2d 89, 335 N.Y.S.2d 771, 1972 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1628 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

David F. Lee, Jr., J.

In this declaratory judgment action, in which the question for determination is whether there was insurance coverage, both collision and liability, at the time plaintiff’s automobile was “in a collision or upset with another object ”, the defendant Great Eastern Insurance Company (Great Eastern) moves, pursuant to CPLR 3212, for summary judgment. The plaintiff moves, pursuant to CPLR 3212, for summary judgment against the defendant Hanover Insurance Company (Hanover).

The facts, as set forth in a memorandum submitted by plaintiff’s counsel, and which “ [t]he defendants are in general agreement with ’ ’ are:

“ Plaintiff, on or about May 27, 1970 purchased a 1969 Ford Mustang for the approximate purchase price of $2700. The plaintiff obtained financing for the vehicle through an installment loan contract obtained at Endicott Trust Company [90]*90* * *. At the time the vehicle was purchased, the plaintiff also purchased from Howard Palmer, insurance agent and named defendant herein, a comprehensive collision policy issued by Great Eastern Insurance Company and property damage policy from Hanover Insurance Company, which policies covered said automobile from May 27,1970 to May 27,1971. Plaintiff financed the payment of the premiums of said insurance policies through Policy Advancing Corporation * * *.
11 Each insurance policy contains a loss payable clause to the bank, Endicott Trust Company. However, the two loss payable clauses are distinguishable upon their facts. The loss payable ’ clause in the Hanover policy is detailed and provides, among other things, that Hanover Insurance Company shall notify the lienholder (Endicott Trust Company) in the event the company desires to cancel the policy. The ‘ loss payable ’ clause contained in the Great Eastern Insurance Policy stipulates only that ‘ any loss hereunder is payable as interest may appear to the insured and Endicott Trust Company, Endicott, New York.’ No other provision regarding the loss payee were set forth.
“ Shortly after the vehicle and insurance policies were financed, confusion arose between plaintiff and defendant insurance companies over premium payments and credit allowances. The details of such misunderstandings are not here in question. In any event, Policy Advancing Corporation, due to plaintiff’s failure to pay premiums and pursuant to its grant of power of attorney between it and the plaintiff, mailed notices of cancellation to Great Eastern Insurance Company, Hanover Insurance Company and the plaintiff, Duane Dyer.
“ Thereafter, on or about November 14, 1970, the plaintiff’s automobile was involved in an accident in which the vehicle was declared a total loss. Both Great Eastern and Hanover Insurance Companies disclaimed. Thus, the plaintiff brought this action to enforce the insurance policies which defendant claims were po longer effectual.”

It is not disputed that Great Eastern issued to plaintiff a collision insurance policy and that Hanover issued to him a liability insurance policy on the automobile. The plaintiff himself breached his contract to pay installments to Policy Advancing Corporation (PAC) which had financed on his behalf the premiums to Great Eastern and Hanover, and it was this conceded breach of his premium financing contract which led PAC, under the power of attorney included in the premium financing agreement, to mail notices of cancellation to plaintiff and the defendant insurance companies. That PAC was authorized, under the [91]*91circumstances, to cancel the policies is not disputed. The issue here, as noted by plaintiff’s counsel, “ concerns the question of notice to a third party mortgagee in an insurance contract.”

The notices of cancellation were mailed by PAC on October 9, 1970. This was the 10 days’ notice with 3 days added for mailing required by section 576 of the Banking Law (subd. 1, par. [b]), governing cancellation by a “premium finance agency.” The accident in which plaintiff’s automobile was involved occurred November 14, 1970, well beyond the time required after mailing of the notices of cancellation to plaintiff and defendant companies. It is alleged and urged that plaintiff should have liability coverage of third-party claims, as well as collision coverage. The crux of the matter is whether the chattel mortgagee, Endicott Trust Company, was also entitled to notices of cancellation to effectuate the cancellations. As noted by plaintiff’s counsel: “ Plaintiff bases his position on the fact that no notice of cancellation was delivered to the loss payee, Endicott Trust Company.”

Notice of cancellation of policies of insurance on automobiles is not required by statute to be delivered to a mortgagee, a loss payee. (Banking Law, § 576; Vehicle and Traffic Law, § 313; Insurance Law, § 167-a.)

Plaintiff’s counsel urge, among other things, in their memorandum : ‘ ‘ The law is well founded that in the case of fire insurance on real property, in which a mortgagor is bound by covenant to insure the mortgaged premises, the mortgagee has what is considered an ‘ equitable lien ’ upon the money due on a policy obtained by the mortgagor. The extent of the mortgagee’s interest is the value of the property destroyed. This interest attaches even though the policy contains no mortgagee clause and is payable to the mortgagor. * * # The only real distinctions between the Schleimer case [65 Mise 2d 520] and the case at bar is that the plaintiff herein is not the mortgagee, but the insured himself. Nonetheless, if the insurance company failed to comply with the requirements for cancellations, it should not be allowed to benefit therefrom and the insured forced to suffer as a result of the insurer’s noneompliance. If compliance with notice requirements is insufficient, then the insurance policy should have been in full force and effect on November 14, 1970, the date of the accident.

“ It is arguable by analogy that the plaintiff is in fact a direct third party beneficiary; between the mortgagee (Endicott Trust Company) and the defendant (Great Eastern Insurance Company). Employing the reasoning that there was a direct con[92]*92tract running between the insurer and the mortgagee (Greenberg v. 1625 Putnam Avenue Corporation, 241 App. Div. 623), the plaintiff, Dyer, then can enforce that contract. It is a well settled point of law that a person for whose benefit a contract is made, although not a party to the contract, may enforce its terms (S & B Rubber & Chemical Corp. v. Stein, 7 N. Y. S. 2d 553, affd. 255 App. Div. 1012).

‘1 It is true, too that the plaintiff was financing his premiums through Policy Advancing Corporation. (PAC) PAC notified, through its grant of authority of power of attorney, both the plaintiff and Great Eastern Insurance Company of cancellation. However, such an intervening third party should not have any effect on duties owed by the defendant insurance company. Merely the fact that Dyer was forced to finance his premium payments through PAC should not alter the insurance company’s requirement to notify the interested parties in order to effectively cancel ;the policy. ’ ’

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 Misc. 2d 89, 335 N.Y.S.2d 771, 1972 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dyer-v-great-eastern-insurance-nysupct-1972.