July 12, 2019

Veraso Med. Supply Corp. v State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (2019 NY Slip Op 51149(U))

Headnote

The court considered an appeal in a case where Veraso Medical Supply Corp was seeking to recover assigned first-party no-fault benefits from State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. The main issue decided was whether the provider had failed to provide requested verification, and if the affidavit submitted by the provider was sufficient to give rise to a presumption that the verification had been provided. The court held that the affidavit submitted by the provider was sufficient to create a triable issue of fact as to whether the verification had been provided and therefore, reversed the order of the Civil Court and denied the defendant's motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the second cause of action.

Reported in New York Official Reports at Veraso Med. Supply Corp. v State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (2019 NY Slip Op 51149(U))

Veraso Med. Supply Corp. v State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. (2019 NY Slip Op 51149(U)) [*1]

Veraso Med. Supply Corp. v State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.

2019 NY Slip Op 51149(U) [64 Misc 3d 135(A)]

Decided on July 12, 2019

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This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.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 July 12, 2019

SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, SECOND DEPARTMENT, 2d, 11th and 13th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS

PRESENT: : MICHAEL L. PESCE, P.J., MICHELLE WESTON, THOMAS P. ALIOTTA, JJ
2016-1416 K C

Veraso Medical Supply Corp., as Assignee of Vega, Carlos, Appellant,
against
State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co., Respondent.

The Rybak Firm, PLLC (Damin J. Toell of counsel), for appellant. Abrams, Cohen & Associates, P.C. (Frank Piccininni of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Katherine A. Levine, J.), entered April 19, 2016. The order, insofar as appealed from as limited by the brief, granted the branch of defendant’s motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the second cause of action.

ORDERED that the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed, with $30 costs, and the branch of defendant’s motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the second cause of action is denied.

In this action by a provider to recover assigned first-party no-fault benefits, plaintiff appeals, as limited by its brief, from so much of an order of the Civil Court as granted the branch of defendant’s motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the second cause of action on the ground that plaintiff had failed to provide requested verification.

Plaintiff correctly argues that the affidavit it submitted in opposition to defendant’s motion was sufficient to give rise to a presumption that the requested verification had been mailed to, and received by, defendant (see St. Vincent’s Hosp. of Richmond v Government Empls. Ins. Co., 50 AD3d 1123 [2008]) and thus that there is a triable issue of fact as to whether the verification had been provided.

Accordingly, the order, insofar as appealed from, is reversed and the branch of defendant’s motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the second cause of action is denied.

PESCE, P.J., WESTON and ALIOTTA, JJ., concur.

ENTER:
Paul Kenny
Chief Clerk
July 12, 2019
Decision Date: July 12, 2019