Five Towns Nissan, LLC v. Universal Underwriters Insurance

135 A.D.3d 416, 21 N.Y.S.3d 880

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: January 5, 2016
• Docket: 16535 651164/13
• Status: Published

Opinion

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Jeffrey K. Oing, J.), entered August 6, 2014, which denied plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment against defendant Universal Underwriters Insurance Company, and granted Universal’s oral cross motion for summary judgment dismissing the breach of contract cause of action against it, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

The motion court correctly applied the unlimited aggregate deductible set forth in policy endorsement No. 001, rejecting plaintiff’s contention that the limited deductible set forth in the certificate insurance governed. The certificate was not proof of insurance and contained a broad disclaimer that it was a contract or conferred any rights on the certificate holder (see Buccini v 1568 Broadway Assoc., 250 AD2d 466, 469 [1st Dept 1998]). Under the circumstances, assuming the argument is properly raised at this juncture, nor is the insurer estopped from denying the effectiveness of the deductible set forth in the certificate, as the disclaimer renders plaintiff’s claimed reliance on the certificate unreasonable (cf. Bucon, Inc. v Pennsylvania Mfg. Assn. Ins. Co., 151 AD2d 207, 210 [3d Dept 1989]). Concur — Friedman, J.P., Sweeny, Saxe and Moskowitz, JJ.