Hospital for Joint Diseases v. Allstate Insurance Co

In Hospital for Joint Diseases v. Allstate Insurance Co., 5 AD3d 441 (2nd Dept. 2004) the plaintiff claimed that it was entitled to summary judgment on two no-fault claims it sent on March 6, 2002, since the defendant had failed to either pay or deny the claims within thirty (30) days of receipt. The defendant submitted evidence that it had previously notified the plaintiff's assignor that it had terminated her no-fault benefits based on an independent medical examination. In addition, defendant showed that it had previously issued timely denials for identical claims previously submitted by the plaintiff, and that the plaintiff had repeatedly resubmitted the identical claims, until, one time, the defendant failed to issue a timely denial. The court found that the defendant's denial was timely, since it had previously timely denied the identical claim.