Key Takeaway
New York no-fault insurance case on VTL § 313 cancellation requirements and DMV filing proof issues for policy termination validity.
Art of Healing Medicine, P.C. v Allstate Ins. Co., 2016 NY Slip Op 26387 (App. Term 2d Dept. 2016)
“n December 17, 2009, in compliance with Vehicle and Traffic Law § 313 (1), defendant had mailed a letter to the policyholder notifying it that, due to “missing information or no response to our underwriting inquiry,” the policy would terminate on March 16, 2010. However, although the affidavit referred to an annexed document purportedly showing a record of defendant’s March 17, 2010 notification to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of defendant’s March 16, 2010 termination of the policy, these submissions did not conclusively establish, as a matter of law, that defendant’s notice of termination had been properly filed with the DMV (see e.g. Matter of Government Empls. Ins. Co. v Barthold, 194 AD2d 724 ). As defendant failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that it had filed a copy of the notice of termination, upon which its defense is based, with the DMV within 30 days of the effective date of the policy’s termination, as required by Vehicle and Traffic Law § 313 (2) (a) (see Matter of Progressive Classic Ins. Co. v Kitchen, 46 AD3d 333 ), defendant did not show that the cancellation was effective with respect to plaintiff’s assignor, who was not the named insured or a member of the insured’s household (Vehicle and Traffic Law § 313 ). Consequently, defendant should not have been awarded summary judgment dismissing the complaint.”
The proof of the filing of the DMV cancellation is one of the most annoying parts of any motion based upon a cancellation. First, it has to be done in 30-days. Second, the insurance printout must be certified. You cannot use the web-dial in application cancellation for court papers. The evidentiary requirements are silly in the paperless computer world we live in, especially when the proof is supplied through a New York State database. Silliness pervades this profession. The penalty of course for not proving timely filing is that insurance coverage is available for anybody accept the policyholder and his family members for the time period until proof of new insurance (if ever) crops up.
