Notifying One’s Broker of an Accident Does Not Constitute Notification of the Insurer

The Court of Appeals, over a partial dissent, determined that the plaintiff’s providing notice of an accident to plaintiff’s broker did not constitute notice to the insurer.  The decision focuses on distinguishing Mighty Midgets v Centennial Ins. Co. (47 NY2d 12 [1979]) where the roles of the broker the insurer were “uncommonly intertwined:”

We have long held that a policyholder’s timely notice to a broker does not “constitute the notice contemplated by the [insurance] policy since a broker is normally the agent of the insured and notice to the ordinary insurance broker is not notice to the liability carrier” Our decision in Mighty Midgets does not alter this fundamental principle. Strauss Painting Inc v Mt. Hawley Ins Co, 2014 NY Slip Op 08214, CtApp 11-24-14