Employers Ins. of Wausau v. Nassau County

Decision Date06 June 1988
Citation530 N.Y.S.2d 157,141 A.D.2d 496
PartiesEMPLOYERS INSURANCE OF WAUSAU, etc., Appellant, v. The COUNTY OF NASSAU, Respondent, et al., Defendants.
CourtNew York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Louis J. Castellano, Jr., P.C., Garden City (E. Richard Rimmels, Jr., of counsel), for appellant.

Edward T. O'Brien, Co. Atty., Mineola (Robert O. Boyhan, of counsel), for respondent.

Before THOMPSON, J.P., and WEINSTEIN, EIBER and HARWOOD, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

In an action for a judgment declaring the scope of coverage of a policy of insurance, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Christ, J.), dated October 6, 1987, which granted the motion of the defendant County of Nassau for summary judgment, denied the plaintiff's cross motion for summary judgment, and declared that the plaintiff has an obligation to defend the County of Nassau in an underlying negligence action entitled Karpowitz v. County of Nassau (Index No. 8324/84).

ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, with costs, the defendant's motion is denied, the plaintiff's cross motion is granted, and it is declared that the plaintiff has no obligation or duty to defend the County of Nassau in the underlying negligence action.

Pursuant to an agreement between a contractor and the respondent County of Nassau for the contractor to resurface certain roads in Nassau County, the appellant, an insurance company, issued a policy providing coverage for liability arising out of negligent operations or supervision in the course of the resurfacing project. Subsequently, a claim of negligence arising out of a fatal motorcycle accident was brought against the respondent. Although the accident occurred on a road where resurfacing had just commenced, the site of the accident was located nearly one mile from the nearest resurfacing that had been undertaken and was entirely unrelated to the resurfacing project. The appellant waited more than six months after being notified of the claim against the respondent before it issued a disclaimer of coverage. Because the policy only covered liability arising out of negligent operations or supervision in the course of resurfacing, the appellant claimed that it did not apply to liability arising out of the above-mentioned accident.

The Supreme Court erroneously applied Insurance Law § 3420(d) to this case. That provision only estops an insurance company from disclaiming coverage where it has delayed...

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    ...363 [2d Dept 1997]; American Home Assur. Co. v Aprigliano, 161 A.D.2d 357 [1st Dept 1990]; Employers Ins. of Wausau v County of Nassau, 141 A.D.2d 496 [2d Dept 1988]). The branch of the motion which is to dismiss the complaint on the ground that defendant did not receive timely notice of th......
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