April 9, 2004

Damadian Mri In Garden City v Windsor Group Ins. (2004 NY Slip Op 50262(U))

Headnote

The main issue in this case was whether the plaintiff, Damadian MRI in Garden City, P.C., had established its entitlement to summary judgment in a lawsuit against Windsor Group Insurance for first-party no-fault benefits for medical services rendered to an assignor. The court considered whether the assignment made to the plaintiff by the assignor was valid, as the assignment form named the assignee merely as "Damadian MRI" and raised a question of fact as to whether plaintiff was the same entity named in the assignment. The court also addressed whether the defendant's notices for examinations under oath tolled the statutory period, as there was no provision in the no-fault regulations for such verification. The holding of the court was that the plaintiff failed to establish its prima facie entitlement to summary judgment and that its cross motion for summary judgment should have been denied. The court also reversed the judgment, vacated the order granting plaintiff's cross motion, and remanded the matter to the lower court for further proceedings.

Reported in New York Official Reports at Damadian Mri In Garden City v Windsor Group Ins. (2004 NY Slip Op 50262(U))

Damadian Mri In Garden City v Windsor Group Ins. (2004 NY Slip Op 50262(U)) [*1]
Damadian MRI in Garden City v Windsor Group Ins.
2004 NY Slip Op 50262(U)
Decided on April 9, 2004
Appellate Term, Second Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.
Decided on April 9, 2004

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

APPELLATE TERM : 2nd and 11th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS


PRESENT:DECIDED April 9, 2004 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK APPELLATE TERM : 2nd and 11th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS PRESENT : PESCE, P.J., GOLIA and RIOS, JJ.
NO. 2003-717 Q C
DAMADIAN MRI IN GARDEN CITY, P.C. A/A/O SHARON GAMBOA, Respondent,

against

WINDSOR GROUP INSURANCE, Appellant.

Appeal by defendant from an order of the Civil Court, Queens County (A. Agate, J.), entered February 26, 2003, denying its motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and granting plaintiff’s cross motion for summary judgment, deemed an appeal from the judgment, entered pursuant to said order, on April 8, 2003, awarding plaintiff the sum of $1,469.84 (see CPLR 5501 [c]).

Judgment unanimously reversed without costs, so much of the order, entered February 26, 2003, as granted plaintiff’s cross motion for summary judgment vacated, plaintiff’s cross motion denied and matter remanded to the court below for all further proceedings.

Plaintiff commenced this action to recover $878.67, in first-party no-fault benefits for medical services it rendered to its assignor, as well as statutory interest and attorney’s fees, pursuant to Insurance Law § 5101 et seq. Thereafter, defendant moved for summary judgment dismissing the complaint and plaintiff cross-moved for summary judgment. By order entered February 26, 2003, the court below denied the motion and granted the cross motion. A judgment was subsequently entered pursuant to said order on April 8, 2003 awarding plaintiff the sum of $1,469.84.

Upon a review of the record, we find that plaintiff failed to establish its prima facie entitlement to summary judgment inasmuch as it did not show that the assignor made an assignment to plaintiff Damadian MRI in Garden City, P.C. The assignment form herein names [*2]the assignee merely as “Damadian MRI.” Although the assignment demonstrates plaintiff’s standing to sue sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss (see e.g. Neuro Care Assoc. v State Farm Ins. Co., NYLJ, June 25, 1998 [App Term, 2d & 11th Jud Dists]), it raises a question of fact as to whether plaintiff is the same entity as the one named in the assignment.

We note that defendant’s notices for examinations under oath did not toll the statutory period inasmuch as at the applicable time, there was no provision in the no-fault regulations for such verification (A.B. Med. Servs. PLLC v Eagle Ins. Co., NYLJ, Dec. 29,
2003 [App Term, 9th & 10th Jud Dists]; see also A.B. Med. Servs. PLLC v Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., NYLJ, Oct. 27, 2003 [App Term, 2d & 11th Jud Dists]). In view of the foregoing, plaintiff’s cross motion for summary judgment should have been denied. Moreover, defendant’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint was properly denied as its remaining contentions lack merit (see Damadian MRI in Garden City, P.C. v Windsor Group Ins., No. 2003-862 Q C, decided herewith).
Decision Date: April 09, 2004