John v. Centennial Insurance

91 A.D.2d 1104, 458 N.Y.S.2d 350, 1983 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 16447
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJanuary 13, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 91 A.D.2d 1104 (John v. Centennial Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
John v. Centennial Insurance, 91 A.D.2d 1104, 458 N.Y.S.2d 350, 1983 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 16447 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

— Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court at Special Term (Cholakis, J.), entered December 4, 1981 in Albany County, which granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and awarded judgment in the sum of $100,000, plus interest, costs and disbursements. On or about the third day of July, 1977, Scott R. John and James A. Coulter were struck by a boat on Paradox Lake. The boat was operated by Emery J. Dergosits, and as a result of the accident John was seriously injured and Coulter was killed. At the time of the accident, Dergosits was the holder of a homeowner’s insurance policy issued by defendant Centennial Insurance Company (Centennial), which was in effect from May 21, 1977 to May 21, 1978. Concededly, the accident was reported to Centennial very shortly after its occurrence and was investigated by Centennial almost immediately. By letter dated August 3, 1977, and significantly long before any complaint" had been served, Centennial’s senior claims adjuster advised Mr. Dergosits that the Glastron Carlson watercraft propelled by an 80-horsepower Mercury outboard engine was excluded from coverage by reason of coverage E & F subletter lb under the “Exclusions” provision of the policy. Concededly, Centennial did not send written notice or give any notice of its denial of coverage to John or to Coulter’s representative, who are plaintiffs in this action. With a letter bearing an August 2,1977 date, Dergosits’ personal attorney forwarded a copy of a summons in the action instituted on behalf of Scott John to Centennial and with a letter dated October 3, 1977 forwarded to Centennial the summons and complaint in the action commenced by Agnes J. Coulter, as administratrix of the goods, chattels and credits of James A. Coulter. Both enclosures were returned to Dergosits by Centennial. Plaintiffs’ actions proceeded to trial and on March 21, 1980, a judgment, upon a jury verdict, was entered against Dergosits in the joined actions in the total sum of $134,120. When the judgment remained unsatisfied after 30 days, plaintiffs commenced the instant action pursuant to subdivision 8 of section 167 of the Insurance Law (hereafter all references are to Insurance Law) by the service of a summons accompanied by a notice of motion for summary judgment in lieu of a complaint. By decision dated July 23,1980 and order of July 31, 1980, Special Term denied the relief sought holding that the procedure was impermissible under the circumstances prevailing and it directed plaintiffs to serve a complaint. The direction was promptly complied [1105]*1105with and Centennial then answered setting forth the exclusions in the policy as an affirmative defense. Plaintiffs again moved for summary judgment and on this occasion Special Term granted summary judgment for the reason that Centennial had failed to give plaintiffs or their representatives the required written notice of its intent to disclaim. After granting reargument, Special Term adhered to its original decision save for limiting recovery to an amount not exceeding the policy limits. On appeal, Centennial contends that by reason of the exclusion in the policy it was not required to give notice to the injured parties as provided for in subdivision 8 of section 167, that assuming, arguendo, that subdivision 8 applies, recovery is limited to the actual costs incurred in securing the judgment sued on, and that summary judgment was improperly granted because it should have been afforded the opportunity through discovery to ascertain whether there was primary insurance coverage in place at the time of the incident such that it was an excess carrier and whether the underlying judgment was fraudulently obtained. It also contends that factual issues as to whether plaintiffs’ actual knowledge of Centennial’s disclaimer precluded the grant of summary judgment. Before addressing these issues we first turn to plaintiffs’ assertion that Centennial’s disclaimer letter of August 3,1977 to Dergosits was not sufficiently specific to constitute proper notice so as to comply with the statute. We acknowledge that such a notice must promptly apprise the claimant with a high degree of specificity of the grounds upon which the disclaimer is predicated (General Acc. Ins. Group v Cirucci, 46 NY2d 862, 864). While the notice is hardly an example of excellence, nonetheless it was promptly served and, though the policy exclusion was not properly identified by number, it did apprise the insured that the basis for the disclaimer was that at the time of the accident the watercraft was being propelled by an outboard engine the capacity of which exceeded 50 horsepower, and, as a consequence, fell within an exclusion in the policy. Accordingly, we conclude that the notice met the requirements and fulfilled their purpose. Turning to Centennial’s contentions, subdivision 8 of section 167 provides, in pertinent part: “If under a liability policy * * * an insurer shall disclaim liability or deny coverage for death or bodily injury * * * it shall give written notice as soon as is reasonably possible of such disclaimer of liability or denial of coverage to the insured and the injured person or any other claimant(emphasis added). Centennial’s argument that they were not required to give notice because of the exclusion in the policy is without merit. In its recent interpretation of subdivision 8 in Zappone v Home Ins. Co. (55 NY2d 131), the Court of Appeals held that the Legislature, in using the words “denial of coverage” in subdivision 8 of section 167, did not intend to require notice when there never was any insurance in effect, and intended by that phrase to cover only situations in which a policy of insurance that would otherwise cover the particular accident is claimed not to cover it because of an exclusion in the policy. This is precisely the situation at bar. There was insurance in effect at the time of the accident and the insurer took the position that the particular accident was not covered by reason of a policy exclusion. Hence, it is clear that Centennial was required to give written notice, not only to its insured but to the injured parties as well. In sum, subdivision 8 requires written notice to the injured party when the insurer relies upon an exclusion, but no notice is required where there is noncoverage in the first instance (Zappone v Home Ins. Co., supra, p 138), and Zappone’s clear holding obviates the necessity for us to pursue Centennial’s other contentions as to what the Legislature intended. Centennial next contends that, assuming, arguendo, there has been a breach of subdivision 8, the damages are limited to the costs incurred in securing the underlying judgment. Foundation for this notion is sought from the idea that this should be the [1106]*1106rule because in a nonmotor vehicle case the only right violated by failing to give notice to the injured party is the right to decide whether to incur the expense of bringing an action against the insured and that such plaintiffs have no alternative remedy as would a motor vehicle accident victim who might obtain relief under the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Law. When a similar limiting notion was advanced wherein it was contended that subdivision 8 applied only to those cases arising out of the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Law, the court held that: “This would seem to be a strained interpretation when one considers that the section in question is placed in the Insurance Law under article VII entitled ‘The Insurance Contract’ and that it was included within several sections which apply to all insurance contracts written in the State of New York. Section 167 itself is entitled ‘Liability insurance, standard provisions; right of injured person’ ” (Preisch v Continental Cas. Co., 55 AD2d 117,122).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
91 A.D.2d 1104, 458 N.Y.S.2d 350, 1983 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 16447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-v-centennial-insurance-nyappdiv-1983.