Omni Med. Servs., P.C. v Arch Ins., 2011 NY Slip Op 51411(U)(App. Term 2d Dept. 2011)
Service upon the TPA is fatal in obtaining jurisdiction over an insurance carrier. I think there is Appellate Division case law that could be found on the CPLR blog that refutes this proposition of law.
“Here, the process server served the summons and complaint upon a clerk employed by defendant’s third-party claims administrator, and the record is devoid of any showing that he was an officer, director, managing agent, cashier, or an agent authorized by appointment to accept service on defendant’s behalf”
One Response
They should have moved to amend. “Mistakes relating to the name of a party involving a misnomer or misdescription of the legal status of a party surely fall within the category of those irregularities which are subject to correction by amendment, particularly when the other party is not prejudiced and should have been well aware from the outset that a misdescription was involved” ( Covino v. Alside Aluminum Supply Co., 42 A.D.2d 77, 80, 345 N.Y.S.2d 721; see A.A. Sutain, Ltd. v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 22 A.D.2d 607, 608-609, 257 N.Y.S.2d 724, affd. 17 N.Y.2d 776, 270 N.Y.S.2d 626, 217 N.E.2d 674; Homemakers, Inc. of Long Is. v. Williams, 100 A.D.2d 505, 507, 472 N.Y.S.2d 711).