From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Naghavi v. New York Life Insurance Company

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Apr 20, 1999
260 A.D.2d 252 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)

Summary

holding that the plaintiff was precluded from asserting that his income was more than that which he had declared on his tax returns

Summary of this case from Shyer v. Shyer

Opinion

April 20, 1999

Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Edward Lehner, J.).


The uncontroverted affidavit of defendant's underwriter, accompanied by a page from defendant's underwriting manual stating that no disability policy would be issued to any person earning less than $16,000 per year, established, as a matter of law, the materiality of plaintiff's misrepresentation in his application that his earned income for the prior and current years was and would be $100,000 (Insurance Law § 3105 [b], [c]; see, DiGrazia v. United States Life Ins. Co., 170 A.D.2d 246, 247). Although plaintiff contends that when commissions he allegedly earned from business activities abroad are taken into account, he actually did have annual income of $100,000 in the years in question, we deem him to be bound by his contrary representations in the income tax returns he filed for those years, the application for insurance having defined "earned income" in terms of amounts "reportable for personal federal income tax purposes" ( see, Meyer v. Insurance Co., 1998 US Dist LEXIS 15863, *2, 32-34, [SD NY, Oct. 9, 1998, Peck, J. (97 Civ 4678 [AJP])]; see also, Matter of Heller v. New York State Tax Commn., 116 A.D.2d 901, 902). Although any oral communication by plaintiff to the soliciting insurance agent not reflected in, or inconsistent with, the application would in any event not be binding on defendant, in view of the limitations on the agent's authority stated in the application ( see, DiGrazia v. United States Life Ins. Co., supra, at 247-248), we further note that plaintiff does not allege that he ever made any statement to the agent clarifying that he considered the portion of his income earned abroad not to be reportable for tax purposes.

Concur — Ellerin, P. J., Rosenberger, Andrias, Saxe and Friedman, JJ.


Summaries of

Naghavi v. New York Life Insurance Company

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Apr 20, 1999
260 A.D.2d 252 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)

holding that the plaintiff was precluded from asserting that his income was more than that which he had declared on his tax returns

Summary of this case from Shyer v. Shyer

In Naghavi v New York Life Ins. Co. (260 AD2d 252), where the insurer had disclaimed based on a misrepresentation in its insured's application for insurance, this Court held the insured bound by the earned income declared in his income tax return because his application defined earned income in terms of amounts "reportable for personal federal income tax purposes."

Summary of this case from Vick v. Albert
Case details for

Naghavi v. New York Life Insurance Company

Case Details

Full title:ABBAS NAGHAVI, Appellant, v. NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Respondent

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Apr 20, 1999

Citations

260 A.D.2d 252 (N.Y. App. Div. 1999)
688 N.Y.S.2d 530

Citing Cases

Mahoney-Buntzman v. Buntzman

( Johnson v Chapin, 49 AD3d 348.) IV. The application of the doctrine of quasi-estoppel to preclude defendant…

Theresa Grp., LLC v. Oksman

This rule applies in situations where a party has made an admission through his income tax filing adverse to…