In Gold Fields American Corporation v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, 173 Misc. 2d 901 (Sup. Ct, N.Y. Co. 1997), the plaintiff asserted that it had lost policies that allegedly had been issued to it. The court, after determining that the proponent of a lost instrument need prove its existence only by a preponderance of the evidence rather than by clear and convincing evidence, concluded that a triable issue of fact existed as to whether the claimed policy had ever been issued. In that case (which involved policies allegedly issued in the 1960s and 1970s), there was evidence that some of the insurer's records were lost as a result of "housekeeping" in 1975 in its New York office and that its procedure prior to 1983 was to destroy all policies more than seven years old. Further there was proof that the insurer had made payments to plaintiff on claims asserted under the alleged policies and there were invoices referring to a premium credit and checks issued based on an overpayment of premiums.