State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Parisien

352 F. Supp. 3d 215
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedNovember 26, 2018
Docket18-CV-289
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 352 F. Supp. 3d 215 (State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Parisien) 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
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Parisien, 352 F. Supp. 3d 215 (E.D.N.Y. 2018).

Opinion

I. Leo Glasser, Senior United States District Judge

Plaintiffs State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (together, "Plaintiffs" or "State Farm") bring this action seeking damages for benefits paid under no-fault automobile insurance policies for services rendered or purportedly rendered by Defendants. (ECF No. 5 ("Am. Compl.") ). State Farm also seeks a *220declaratory judgment that Defendants are not entitled to collect any future no-fault benefits for services rendered to date and through the pendency of the litigation. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 261-269). Defendants are various individual providers and affiliated corporations who purportedly rendered services or provided medical supplies to State Farm's insureds at 1786 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York ("1786 Flatbush"). (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 12-43).1 This action is one of many that have been commenced, and will surely continue to be commenced, by insurance carriers in this district against medical providers who have allegedly abused New York's no-fault statute, N.Y. Ins. L. §§ 5101, et seq. , to carry out fraud or collect benefits to which they are not entitled under applicable regulations. See Allstate Insurance Company v. Tvildiani , 2015 WL 13048729, at *1 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 14, 2015) (observing that "[a]llegations of fraud on our health care system generally ... have become too common. There have been dozens of cases brought in this district alleging the same misuse of New York's No Fault Insurance law").

Presently before the Court is State Farm's motion for a preliminary injunction of proceedings that have been commenced, and which may be commenced in the future, by Defendants to collect no-fault benefits from State Farm. (ECF No. 6). See Fed. R. Civ. P. 65. The temporary relief that State Farm requests may be divided into three branches:

1. an order staying lawsuits brought by Defendants against Plaintiffs to collect no-fault benefits and which are currently pending in New York state court;
2. an order staying pending American Arbitration Association ("AAA") proceedings brought by Defendants against Plaintiffs to collect no-fault benefits; and
3. an order enjoining Defendants from commencing any future lawsuits or arbitration proceedings in order to collect no-fault benefits.

(ECF No. 6).

It is the first branch that raises the most significant legal and policy questions, not only for New York's no-fault scheme, but for our ever-evolving jurisprudence on the scope of the Anti-Injunction Act ("AIA"), 28 U.S.C. § 2283. "It is always embarrassing for a lower court to say whether the time has come to disregard decisions of a higher court, not yet explicitly overruled, because they parallel others in which the higher court has expressed a contrary view." Spector Motor Service v. Walsh , 139 F.2d 809, 823 (1943) (Hand, J., dissenting). Although there are precedents suggesting that a court's authority to enjoin state proceedings in aid of its jurisdiction does not apply to actions in personam, see Toucey v. New York Life Ins. Co. , 314 U.S. 118, 139, 62 S.Ct. 139, 86 L.Ed. 100 (1941) ; Kline v. Burke Const. Co. , 260 U.S. 226, 43 S.Ct. 79, 67 L.Ed. 226 (1922), "one should not wait for formal retraction in the face of changes plainly foreshadowed."

*221Spector Motor Service , 139 F.2d at 823 ; see also Cohens v. State of Virginia , 19 U.S. 264, 404, 6 Wheat. 264, 5 L.Ed. 257 (1821) ("Questions may occur which we would gladly avoid, but we cannot avoid them"; "[w]ith whatever doubts, with whatever difficulties, a case may be attended, we must decide it, if it be brought before us") (Marshall, C.J.). Based on its review of the relevant case law and statutory authority, and under the specific facts presented in this case, the Court grants State Farm's motion in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

I. New York's No-Fault Statute

The Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance Reparations Act, see N.Y. Ins. L. §§ 5101 et seq. (formerly N.Y. Ins. Law §§ 670 et seq. ) sets forth New York's no-fault scheme and "supplant[s] the state's common law tort remedies for most injuries associated with automobile accidents with a no-fault insurance scheme." State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Mallela , 372 F.3d 500, 502 (2d Cir. 2004). Under the statute, automobile insurers must provide coverage for "basic economic loss," including medical expenses, arising out of the use or operation of a covered motor vehicle, without regard to fault. See N.Y. Ins. L. §§ 5102, 5103 ; Mallela , 372 F.3d at 502.

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352 F. Supp. 3d 215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mut-auto-ins-co-v-parisien-nyed-2018.