PLAINTIFF WAS ENTITLED TO THE REFORMATION OF THE INSURANCE POLICY TO NAME HIM AS MORTGAGEE; ALL PARTIES AGREED THEY INTENDED TO SO NAME THE PLAINTIFF AND THE FAILURE TO DO SO WAS THE RESULT OF A MISTAKE; PLAINTIFF WAS ENTITLED TO PAYMENT OF THE FIRE-DAMAGE PROCEEDS IRRESPECTIVE OF THE PROPERTY OWNER’S ACTS OR NEGLECT (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiff was entitled to the reformation of an insurance policy and to the payment of the fire-damage proceeds. Through error plaintiff was never named as the mortgagee on the policy:

Plaintiff asserts that reformation of the property policy to name him as the mortgagee is appropriate because the undisputed evidence demonstrates that [all the parties] intended to have him so named and reached an oral agreement to that effect, but that, without their knowledge and because of mutual mistake, the property policy did not embody that agreement. In support of this claim, plaintiff submitted the uncontradicted testimony of [the buyer] and the wife that they were aware of the requirement to have plaintiff named as a mortgagee on the property policy as required by the mortgages and intended to comply with it, that the wife asked [the insurance agent] to make the change, and that she and [the buyer] believed afterward that the change had been made and that plaintiff had become a mortgagee on the property policy. * * *

… [W]e find that the property policy should be reformed to name plaintiff as mortgagee … . Plaintiff’s resulting identification as the mortgagee “creates an independent insurance of [his] interest just as if he had received a separate policy from the company but without any inconsistent or repugnant conditions imposed upon the owner and free from invalidation by the latter’s act or neglect” … . Imrie v Ratto, 2020 NY Slip Op 05986, Third Dept 10-22-20