On receipt and mailing

Medcare Supply, Inc. v Farmers New Century Ins. Co., 2014 NY Slip Op 51752(U)(App. Term 1st Dept. 2014)

(1) You just have to wonder what this means.  Does personal knowledge require having someone go to Oklahoma City to personally know how mail is received (that required to prove mailing), or is more akin to a business record practice where the personal knowledge can be a little less personal?  Floodgates abound.

“The defendant insurer failed to establish, prima facie, that it did not timely receive the plaintiff provider’s no-fault claim. In this regard, defendant relied on the affidavit of a claims representative employed in the Hicksville, New York office of non-party Farmers Insurance Exchange (“Exchange”), the entity which “administers claims” on defendant’s behalf. Although the affiant averred that there was no record of the underlying no-fault claim in his office’s paper and computer files, he professed no personal knowledge of the practice and procedures put in place by defendant in connection with the handling of no-fault claims sent to its Oklahoma City office, the designated mailing address for the submission of such claims”

(2) The Court has found that a proof of mailing without affidavit is sufficient to prove an assertion that the document was mailed.

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