VICTORY ON APPEALS

7/1/2016

VICTORY ON APPEALS

Congratulations

Ellen Nimaroff for victory on the following two appeals:

Lasner v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins. Co. and Tony Guggino, 2016 NY Slip Op 04913 (2d Dept. June 22, 2016)

Plaintiff claimed that the insurance agent made certain misrepresentations as to the benefits provided by a disability policy which he relied on. Plaintiff conceded that he had received the policy and reviewed it in part when the policy first went into effect. The lower court denied our motion for summary judgment on the basis that there were questions of fact and allowed plaintiff to amend his complaint to add a new claim for negligent misrepresentation. The appellate court reversed the lower court’s decision and granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance agent on all claims. The appellate court held that “[w]here the terms of the policy were provided to the plaintiff in writing, any reliance by him on an alleged misrepresentation by [the insurance agent] that the policy would pay the plaintiff lifetime benefits even if he was working at another job was not reasonable or justifiable.”

 

Rego Park, et al v. Aspen Specialty Insurance Co., 2016 WL 3530255 (2d Dept. June 29, 2016)

Plaintiffs sought coverage under their commercial general liability policy for claims being made by two landowners who owned property adjacent to plaintiffs’ construction site and who sustained damage arising from subsidence of foundations, walls and floors which emanated from the operations of plaintiffs or their subcontractors. The insurer disclaimed coverage under the subsidence endorsement contained in the policy. In affirming the lower court’s granting of summary judgment to the insurer, the Appellate Division, Second Department held that the insurer’s policy “did not insure the plaintiffs for any damage to the two adjoining properties caused by the plaintiffs or their subcontractors,” and that the “language of the endorsement was susceptible of no other reasonable interpretation.”  In essence, the Appellate Division found that the insurer’s subsidence endorsement was akin to the one in Bentoria Holdings and is enforceable for man-made conditions.

Attorneys

Ellen Nimaroff

New York Office     100 Wall Street, 27th Floor     New York, NY 10005-3701     p. (212) 964-6611     f. (212) 267-5916

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