In re the Arbitration between Alston & Amalgamated Mutual Casualty Co.

53 Misc. 2d 390, 278 N.Y.S.2d 906, 1967 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1644
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 31, 1967
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 53 Misc. 2d 390 (In re the Arbitration between Alston & Amalgamated Mutual Casualty Co.) 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
In re the Arbitration between Alston & Amalgamated Mutual Casualty Co., 53 Misc. 2d 390, 278 N.Y.S.2d 906, 1967 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1644 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1967).

Opinion

J. Irwin Shapiro, J.

This is a motion for an order permanently staying and vacating a demand for arbitration of a claim made under an uninsured motorist’s indorsement to an automobile liability insurance policy.

The petitioner herein, erroneously designated in the title as ‘ ‘ respondent ’ ’, is the insurance company which issued a liability [391]*391policy to one Thaddeus Ramon Alexandrea. The respondent, erroneously designated in the title as “ claimant ”, was a passenger in the Alexandrea automobile on March 8, 1966, when the said automobile was in collision with another automobile owned and operated by one Robert Joyner. It is conceded that Joyner was uninsured at the time of the accident and it is also conceded that the respondent is an “ insured ’ ’ person under the terms of the uninsured motorist’s provision of Alexandrea’s policy.

It is the contention of the petitioner, however, that the respondent, by commencing an action to recover damages for her personal injuries against Alexandrea, has waived her right to proceed in arbitration against the petitioner to recover damages for Joyner’s negligence under the uninsured motorist provision.

The original motion papers herein were incomplete inasmuch as the petitioner failed to include a copy of the insurance policy pursuant to which the claim has been made. At the request of the court, the petitioner has now furnished a copy of the policy which was in effect at the time the dispute arose and the court shall make this policy and the letter indentifying it part of the record in this proceeding.

A chronology of the facts would appear helpful. The accident occurred on March 8, 1966. The respondent commenced a Civil Court suit against Alexandrea on April 5, 1966. Joyner is named as a defendant in that suit, but the instant papers are silent on the question of whether he was served with process or has appeared in that action. In any event, petitioner makes no claim of waiver based on the commencement of any lawsuit against Joyner. The respondent’s attorney filed an “ FS-25 ” insurance information search request with the Department of Motor Vehicles on April 14,1966. On April 28 he was informed by the said department that Joyner was uninsured on the date of the accident and, on the same day, he gave notice both to the petitioner and to the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation of intention to make claim under the uninsured motorist provision of Alexandrea’s policy. Notice was given to both Amalgamated and the MVAIC since the date of issuance of the Alexandrea policy was not then known to the respondent. Thereafter an attorney designated by Amalgamated interposed an answer in the Civil Court suit on behalf of Alexandrea. This is the same attorney who represents the petitioner in the instant proceeding. He is also an officer of and counsel to Amalgamated.

The respondent’s attorney then wrote a series of letters to the petitioner requesting the issuance date of Alexandrea’s policy, but elicited no response. On July 30 the Department of [392]*392Motor Vehicles informed the respondent’s attorney that Alexandrea’s policy had been issued on November 10, 1965. Thus it was then known, for the first time, that the uninsured claim was the responsibility of Amalgamated and not that of MVAIC. (Insurance Law, § 167, subd. 2-a, as amd. by L. 1965, ch. 322, § 3.) On August 9, 1966, the said attorney sent a letter to the petitioner informing it of this fact, enclosing proof of claim and requesting a physical examination of the respondent. The letter also stated respondent’s intention of filing a notice of arbitration unless petitioner took steps towards settlement by August 15,1966.

On November 8, 1966 respondent served a demand for arbitration on Amalgamated and a bill of particulars on its attorney in his capacity as attorney for Alexandrea in the Civil Court suit. On November 21, 1966 the petitioner sent a letter in response to the said notice of arbitration, in which it requested respondent to discontinue the Civil Court action. Petitioner now states that she is willing to do this if necessary, but only on condition that such discontinuance be without prejudice as to Alexandrea, so that respondent may commence another action against that individual following arbitration.

This case differs from the usual one wherein a carrier seeks to stay arbitration of an uninsured motorist claim on the ground of waiver in that, here, the claimant has sued not the uninsured motorist, but rather an alleged joint tort-feasor. The cases involving the usual situation are thus not directly in point. Nevertheless an examination might be helpful.

The said cases are divided into two classes, those in which the insurer claimed a waiver on general equitable principles (Matter of Scheck [MVAIC], 40 Misc 2d 575; cf. Matter of MVAIC [Doyle], 41 Misc 2d 871; Matter of Mailman [MVAIC], 36 Misc 2d 825 and cases cited therein) and those in which a waiver was claimed for violation of some specific provision of the insurance contract (Matter of Diamond [MVAIC], 37 Misc 2d 714, affd. 19 A D 2d 590.) The rationale of the former class of cases would appear misguided since in none of them was it recognized that in this type of case there are two separate controversies, the first between the claimant and the uninsured motorist and the second between the claimant and his own insurer which has contracted to indemnify him for damages suffered as the result of the negligence of the uninsured motorist, (cf. Matter of Shumate [MVAIC], 50 Misc 2d 31, 36.)

It is from the insurance contract that the duty or right to arbitration arises. If the claimant commences an action at law on the contract against the insurer, such action would consti[393]*393tute a waiver under the usual principles. (McCarthy v. MVAIC, 16 A D 2d 35, 44, affd. 12 N Y 2d 922; Matter of Travelers Ind. Co. [Sherwood], 13 A D 2d 507.) But the commencement of a negligence action against the uninsured motorist, standing alone, does not logically constitute a waiver to make claim under the contract, absent some provision therein to the contrary. The insurance carrier owes no duty to the uninsured motorist. It is not bound by any determination reached in the negligence action unless it voluntarily decides to appear therein. The only prejudice it might suffer is the loss of whatever subrogation rights which may have been provided for in the contract of insurance.

This brings us to the second class of cases referred to above. The original standard New York automobile accident indemnification endorsement contained an exclusion that the endorsement did not apply to bodily injury to an insured with respect to which the insured shall, without written consent of the insurer, make any settlement with or prosecute to judgment any action against any person who may be legally liable therefor. (Matter of Diamond [MVAIC], 37 Misc 2d 714, 717, supra.) This exclusion made no sense unless it was read in conjunction with the subrogation or trust agreement also contained in the endorsement. The insurance policy in the instant case also contains a trust agreement which appears to be virtually identical to the trust agreement in the standard New York endorsement. It provides that:

“ trust agreement : In the event of payment to any person under this Part:

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Bluebook (online)
53 Misc. 2d 390, 278 N.Y.S.2d 906, 1967 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-arbitration-between-alston-amalgamated-mutual-casualty-co-nysupct-1967.