Mt. Hawley Insurance v. Abraham Little Neck Development Group, Inc.

856 F. Supp. 2d 510, 2012 WL 1285333, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53462
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedApril 12, 2012
DocketNo. 09-CV-3463 (ADS)(ARL)
StatusPublished

This text of 856 F. Supp. 2d 510 (Mt. Hawley Insurance v. Abraham Little Neck Development Group, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mt. Hawley Insurance v. Abraham Little Neck Development Group, Inc., 856 F. Supp. 2d 510, 2012 WL 1285333, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53462 (E.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

SPATT, District Judge.

This case arises from alleged injuries sustained by defendant Gilberto Diaz (“Diaz”) in a September 22, 2008 accident at the construction site of defendant Abraham Little Neck Development Group, Inc. (“Abraham Little Neck”), which is currently the subject of an action in the New York State Supreme Court, Suffolk County (“the underlying action”). At the time of Diaz’s accident, Abraham Little Neck was insured by plaintiff Mt. Hawley Insurance Company (“Mt. Hawley” or “the Plaintiff’). In a decision and order dated November 21, 2011, the Court granted Mt. Hawley’s summary judgment motion against Abraham Little Neck, declaring that it is not obligated to cover, defend, or indemnify Abraham Little Neck with respect to the September 22, 2008 accident or the underlying action. See Mt. Hawley Ins. Co. v. Abraham Little Neck Development Group, Inc. (“Mt. Hawley I”), 825 F.Supp.2d 384 (E.D.N.Y.2011). The Court held that Mt. Hawley was entitled to disclaim coverage as to Abraham Little Neck based on Abraham Little Neck’s noncompliance with the notice provision contained in the applicable insurance policy.

With respect to Mt. Hawley’s claims against Diaz, the Court first noted that, although Diaz had not interposed a response to the motion for summary judgment, because Mt. Hawley had failed to introduce any argument or evidence with respect to its claim against Diaz, Mt. Hawley had not met its burden as the moving party to show the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. With respect to the substantive dispute, the Court held the following:

[Pjursuant to Insurance Law § 3420(a)(3), even where the insured’s notice is untimely, the injured party “can prevent the insurer from disclaiming coverage on the basis of the insured’s failure to provide timely notice by notifying the insurer themselves.” U.S. Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Tauber, 604 F.Supp.2d 521 (E.D.N.Y.2009) (citing Maldonado v. C.L.-M.I. Props., Inc., [512]*51239 A.D.3d 822, 823, 835 N.Y.S.2d 335 (2d Dep’t 2007)). In particular, Insurance Law § 3420(a)(3) states in relevant part, that “written notice by ... the injured person ... to any licensed agent of the insurer ... shall be deemed notice to the insurer.” N.Y. Ins. L. § 3420(a)(3). Courts have interpreted Insurance Law § 3420(a)(3) to allow “an injured third party [to] seek recovery from an insured’s carrier despite the failure of the insured to provide timely notice of the accident.” Gen. Accident Ins. Group v. Cirucci 46 N.Y.2d 862, 863-64, 414 N.Y.S.2d 512, 387 N.E.2d 223, 224-25 (1979); accord Cont’l Ins. Co. v. Atlantic Cas. Ins. Co., 603 F.3d 169, 176 (2d Cir.2010); AXA Marine and Aviation (UK) Ltd. v. Seajet Indus. Inc., 84 F.3d 622, 626 (2d Cir.1996) (citing Lauritano v. Am. Fidelity Fire. Ins. Co., 3 A.D.2d 564, 162 N.Y.S.2d 553 (1st Dep’t 1957), aff'd, 4 N.Y.2d 1028, 177 N.Y.S.2d 530, 152 N.E.2d 546 (1958)).
Although Insurance Law § 3420(a)(3) provides an injured party with the right to fulfill an insurance policy’s notice obligation directly rather than relying on the insured, “the injured party has the burden of proving that he or she, or counsel, acted diligently in attempting to ascertain the identity of the insurer, and thereafter expeditiously notified the insurer”. Hanover Ins. Co. v. Prakin, 81 A.D.3d 778, 780, 916 N.Y.S.2d 615, 618 (2d Dep’t 2011). However, an injured party cannot satisfy this burden if it never actually gives notice to the insurance carrier. See Garay v. Nat'l Grange Mut. Ins. Co., 117 Fed.Appx. 785, 787 (2d Cir.2004) (“Where, as here, the injured party has not actually exercised his right to provide independent notice under the statute, the insurer’s disclaimer of coverage on the basis of the insured’s late notice is effective against the injured party as well.”).
Here, the only correspondence in the record before the Court from Diaz is the November 14, 2008 letter from Diaz’s attorney to Abraham Little Neck requesting that Abraham Little Neck forward the information about Diaz’s claim to its insurer. If this were the only attempt Diaz made to notify the Plaintiff, it would be insufficient as a matter of law. See Tower Ins. Co. of N.Y. v. Jaison John Realty Corp., 60 A.D.3d 418, 419, 874 N.Y.S.2d 91, 92 (1st Dep’t 2009) (holding that an injured parties letter to the insured advising him to “notify his insurer of the accident, and that if counsel did not hear from [the insured’s] insurer or legal representative within 20 days, [the injured party] would commence an action” was insufficient under Insurance Law § 3420(a)(3) because the injured party “never attempted to ascertain the identity of ... [the] insurer and merely relied on correspondence to [the insured]”). However, because the Plaintiff did not address its potential obligation to Diaz in its Rule 56.1 statement, summary judgment submissions, or even the complaint in this action, the Court does not know whether Diaz ever notified the Plaintiff directly, and, if so, whether that notice was timely. Accordingly, the Court has no information upon which to base a finding that the Plaintiff has no obligation to cover, defend, or indemnify Diaz and therefore the Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment as against Diaz is denied, without prejudice.

825 F.Supp.2d at 395-96.

On December 16, 2011, the Court held a hearing with regard to the status of Mt. Hawley’s claims against Diaz. At this hearing, counsel for Diaz represented that steps had been taken to ascertain Mt. Hawley’s identity in order to provide the requisite notice prior to the commence[513]*513ment of the instant action, satisfying the due diligence requirement. According to his counsel, Diaz did not learn the identity of Mt. Hawley as Abraham Little Neck’s insurer until he received the summons and complaint in the instant action.

Because there had been no discovery on this issue, the Court directed Diaz to submit a letter within ten days of the hearing setting forth his view as to the necessary discovery. The Court also granted Mt. Hawley until January 7, 2012 to submit a letter in response. After both submissions had been received, the Court stated that it would set a discovery schedule. The Court further stated that, following discovery, to the extent it wished to do so, Mt. Hawley would be permitted to make another motion for summary judgment.

On December 27, 2011, Diaz submitted a letter first arguing that he was only a nominal party and therefore he was not a proper party to the action. The Court finds that this argument is without merit. Next, Diaz argued that the notice provided by Abraham Little Neck to Mt. Hawley was sufficient and that any further notice by Diaz would have been superfluous. However, as the Court noted in Mt. Hawley I, Diaz can only take advantage of Insurance Law § 3420(a)(3) by providing his individual notice to Mt. Hawley, otherwise the adequacy of his notice was tied to that of Abraham Little Neck, which, as the Court already held in Mt. Hawley I, was insufficient as a matter of law. 825 F.Supp.2d at 396-97.

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Related

Continental Insurance v. Atlantic Casualty Insurance
603 F.3d 169 (Second Circuit, 2010)
U.S. Underwriters Insurance v. Tauber
604 F. Supp. 2d 521 (E.D. New York, 2009)
Lauritano v. American Fidelity Fire Insurance
152 N.E.2d 546 (New York Court of Appeals, 1958)
General Accident Insurance Group v. Cirucci
387 N.E.2d 223 (New York Court of Appeals, 1979)
Lauritano v. American Fidelity Fire Insurance
3 A.D.2d 564 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1957)
Maldonado v. C.L.-M.I. Properties, Inc.
39 A.D.3d 822 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2007)
Tower Insurance v. Jaison John Realty Corp.
60 A.D.3d 418 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2009)
Hanover Insurance v. Prakin
81 A.D.3d 778 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2011)
Garay v. National Grange Mutual Insurance
117 F. App'x 785 (Second Circuit, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
856 F. Supp. 2d 510, 2012 WL 1285333, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mt-hawley-insurance-v-abraham-little-neck-development-group-inc-nyed-2012.