New York Civil Law

Start of New York Civil Law Case Summaries

This post starts the first in hopefully numerous case summaries of pertinent Appellate Division cases. The cases might not always address ground-breaking material; however, I intend to build up a sizable searchable library of cases addressing common and important issues with respect to different areas of New York law.

The first case summary involves the Second Department's recent decision concerning disclaimers within the context of New York's No-Fault law. In this case, the patient's assignee attempted to resubmit claims for medical treatment to the patient's insurer, even though the insurer had informed the patient that it had terminated her no-fault benefits before she had received the medical treatments. Notably, the Second Department held that the 30-day period in which insurers must deny a no-fault claim does not run anew if the assignee resubmits a claim that has already been denied. The assignee basically was trying to resubmit the same claims until the insurer would fail to disclaim in a timely fashion. Notably, the assignee could have sought payment of the claim through commencing an action or submitting the dispute to arbitration under Insurance Law section 5106(b).

Remember the Days of Free Access to the NYLJ?

What happened to the limited access to articles on the New York Law Journal Website? It could not have been more than two years ago that I was able to access the day's articles on the site without a subscription. Now I get this message everytime I choose a story -- even News in Brief. Even though my firm subscribes to the publication -- and it would even if the Website did not require a subscription -- it was nice to print the articles I wanted to save for future reference. The subscription debacle has also put a damper on the Blogosphere, at least in my view.

nyclegal.com

Edward Marion of nyclegal.com heads up a per diem group of lawyers covering the NYC region. His Website/Weblog features not only information about his services, but useful information for the New York lawyer at his Web Links and News Search Portal section.

Attorney General Spitzer Threatens New Paltz Mayor with Obscure Law

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has threatened Jason West, New Paltz Mayor, with removing him from office under the Executive Law if he continues to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. The Executive Law that AG Spitzer alludes to states:

Action by attorney-general for forfeiture of public office. The attorney-general may maintain an action, upon his own information or upon the complaint of a private person, against a public officer, civil or military, who has done or suffered an act which by law works a forfeiture of his office.

My research reveals that this law is quite obscure. I was only able to find one case that involved the statute, Holzberger v. Shoentag, 54 Misc. 2d 547 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1967), which involved an Election Law issue. The McKinney's Annotations to the statute list one case, People v. O'Dowd, 8 A.D.2d 486 (4 Dep't 1959), which does not directly involved section 63-a.

Is this AG Spitzer's attempt to appear firm on an issue with which he disagrees or will he enforce the statute? If he does, could that cost him the votes he will need to win the election if he decides to run for Governor?

Supreme Court of United States' Records & Briefs Online

A legal historian's dream. The Curiae Project, which is located at the Yale Lillian Goldman Law Library, provides a database for records and briefs from the Supreme Court of the United States. The site is currently in beta testing, and some of the documents are not yet available, but the prospect of access to these documents online is exciting.

Want to Know Why Your Auto Insurance Is So High? Thank These Guys.

Yesterday, the New York Superintendant of Insurance and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced a 100-count indictment was filed against health-care providers and attorneys, among others, for a fraudulent scheme against insurance companies through the state's No-Fault Law. The financial consquences of fraud schemes like this one go beyond the actual "losses" that insurance companies paid to the defendants. Insurance companies expend a large amount of money on loss adjustment -- i.e., hiring attorneys to defend these claims. The amount of claims in which a person gets into a minor fender bender or invents such as situation and then tries to collect No-Fault benefits is staggering. New Yorkers will not only pay for frauds such as this one in higher premiums, we'll also see additional fees tacked onto our automobile insurance bills to combat the problem: see earlier post.

PayPal Hasn't Been Too Friendly with New Yorkers

Our ever vigilant Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, announced yesterday that the online escrow-type service PayPal has agreed to settle charges that it had mislead its customers when those customers' online purchases did not pan out. You can read the settlement agreement here. One customer has beaten AG Spitzer to the punch.

Although plaintiff's attorneys always try to stick Section 349 into a complaint, PayPal's practices raise precisely the type of issues for which Section 349 of the General Business Law was designed -- that is, the potential to mislead and affect the public at large.

Has the Web Helped Speed-Up the Political Process Concerning Same-Sex Marriages?

Ever since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided Goodridge v. Dep't of Pub. Health, reprinted in the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, the political movement for same-sex marriages in this nation has quickly taken off. This article at MSNBC Net talks about the phenomenon but offers no real explanation for the issue gaining the spotlight as fast as it did after the Goodridge decision. Is it because the Web now allows us to gather information quicker and organize a large amount of people with little more than a Website or email?

Outsiders Attempt to Shape the Law in NY Concerning Same-Sex Marriages

An Ulster County Supreme Court Justice temporarily restrained Jason West --the 26-year-old mayor of New Paltz -- from performing more same-sex marriages. A Village board member sought the injunctive relief, however, he was helped by Florida based religious organization known as Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel describe themselves as a civil-rights organization.

Same-Sex Couple Commences Action Against NYC Clerk

Athough a long way off, the New York Court of Appeals might have a chance to resolve the issue of same-sex marriages in New York. Yesterday, a couple backed by a gays rights organization commenced an action against New York City Clerk Victor Robles in Supreme Court, New York County. The action is based on Robles' denial of a marriage certificate to the gay couple.