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Late Disclaimer of Coverage Invalid 

In finding the insurer’s (Country-Wide’s) disclaimer of coverage invalid, the Second Department wrote:

[County-Wide’s] written disclaimer of coverage was untimely and invalid as a matter of law (see Insurance Law § 3420[d][2]). It is undisputed that [plaintiff] Jose R. Ramirez gave notice of the accident and claim to Country-Wide in a letter dated June 14, 2011, and that Country-Wide did not issue its disclaimer until August 15, 2011. While an insurer’s time to give written notice of disclaimer “is measured from the point in time when the insurer first learns of the grounds for disclaimer of liability or denial of coverage” …, the record demonstrates that the facts supporting the disclaimer in this case were either apparent from the claim documents submitted by Ramirez or were readily ascertainable upon the performance of a cursory investigation by Country-Wide … . Therefore, even if some investigation was warranted in this matter, the burden was on Country-Wide to demonstrate that the two-month delay in disclaiming was reasonably related to its performance of a prompt, diligent, thorough, and necessary investigation … . Since Country-Wide merely made a conclusory statement that the delay was occasioned by its investigation, and provided no details with regard to the specific efforts undertaken in conducting that investigation, it failed to sustain its burden of demonstrating that the delay was excusable, and the disclaimer was untimely as a matter of law … . Matter of Country-Wide Ins. Co. v Ramirez, 2013 NY Slip Op 01828, 2012-02056, Index No 12759/11, 2nd Dept. 3-20-13

 

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