Key Takeaway
Court rejects insurance company's staged accident claim due to inadmissible evidence and procedural failures, highlighting the importance of proper documentation in litigation.
Insurance companies pursuing declaratory judgment actions to prove staged accidents must meet rigorous evidentiary standards. When insurers cut corners on documentation or rely on inadmissible evidence, courts will reject their claims regardless of the underlying merits. The case of Nationwide General Insurance Co. v Linwood Bates III demonstrates how procedural missteps can doom even potentially valid fraud allegations.
The Second Department’s decision serves as a cautionary tale about the precision required in insurance litigation. From missing authentication of deposition notices to relying on uncertified police reports, the plaintiff’s errors were so extensive that the court essentially questioned whether they should have filed the case at all. This outcome mirrors other cases where courts have criticized sloppy legal work in insurance disputes.
Jason Tenenbaum’s Analysis:
This just goes to show the attention to detail that is necessary in order to prevail on summary judgment on a staged accident.
Nationwide Gen. Ins. Co. v Linwood Bates III, 2015 NY Slip Op 06122 (2d Dept. 2015)
(1) The plaintiff asserted that several defendants failed to attend their scheduled depositions, which was purportedly a breach of Bates’s insurance contract with the plaintiff. The plaintiff, however, failed to submit evidence from someone with personal knowledge of the mailings of the deposition requests
(2) ” In addition, the uncertified police accident reports submitted by the plaintiff were not admissible”
(3) “Further, the unsigned and unsworn deposition transcript of the defendant Miguel Ortiz was inadmissible”
(4) ” The plaintiff submitted an affidavit of its investigator, but the investigator relied, mostly, on inadmissible evidence, and lacked personal knowledge of the facts surrounding the three collisions.”
It just does not get worse than this. The Court pretty much stated that some people have no business filing staged accident DJ actions. I almost imagine that if counsel had immaculate papers, a different result would arise.
Key Takeaway
This case underscores that technical precision is paramount in declaratory judgment actions involving alleged insurance fraud. Courts demand properly authenticated evidence and sworn testimony from witnesses with personal knowledge. Even strong underlying fraud allegations will fail if the supporting documentation doesn’t meet basic admissibility requirements, as shown in other cases involving procedural failures in insurance litigation.
