In Uderitz v. State (173 Misc 2d 765 [Ct. Claims 1997]) the plaintiff obtained a judgment against the defendant State of New York in 1995. The judgment was subsequently affirmed by the Appellate Division, and the Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal. On February 27, 1997, the defendant was served with a copy of the judgment and notified by the plaintiff that all appeals had been exhausted. In response to a request from the defendant, on March 14, 1997, the plaintiff provided a written breakdown of calculations of all payments due, with interest. The defendants, thereafter, did not respond or otherwise communicate with the claimants. On June 25, 1997, the claimants made a motion to accelerate all future payments due pursuant to CPLR 5044. The Court in Uderitz, noted that the Legislative history of the statute provided no guidance as to what constitutes the failure "to make a payment in a timely fashion." Still, the Court found that the defendant did not post any annuity contract nor did it seek court approval of such a contract. Further, at the time the motion was heard, the defendant had yet to make any lump sum payments for past damages or the first $250,000 of future damages. On those facts, where a judgment was debt was owed, and no payment whatsoever was made, the Court determined that the defendant failed to render payment in a "timely fashion" and therefore the plaintiff was entitled to an immediate payment of the full lump sum for future periodic payments, including interest thereon. In making this determination, the court reviewed the judgment debtor's proposed reasons for the untimely payment, and rejected them: While the statute may be invoked when the failure to make payment is for any reason, here the reasons or excuses presented in court addressed supposed internal procedures at the insurance carrier for the Defendant. Apparently disbursements above certain amounts of money needed "corporate" as opposed to local or regional approval, and at that needed the specific approval of the chief corporate counsel, who was involved with a takeover of Aetna, another insurance company. In other words, the Defendant was too busy to make timely payment. While the statute provides a mechanism to assure compliance when payment is late for any reason, here the excuse is at best hardly compelling and at worst cavalier and insulting" (Id., at 768). In Uderitz, the defendant did not purchase the required annuity contracts and indeed made no payments whatsoever on the judgment until the plaintiff made its motion, some four months after the judgment was entered. Under those circumstances, the Court found that the plaintiff was entitled to acceleration of all future payments.