Opinion
13355 Index No. 156988/19 Case No. 2020-01560
03-16-2021
AMERICAN TRANSIT INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. HEALTH PLUS SURGERY CENTER, LLC, et al., Defendants, CitiMed Services, PA, Defendant–Respondent.
Short & Billy, P.C., New York ( Skip Short of counsel), for appellant. Russell Friedman & Associates, LLP, Garden City ( Phillip H. Kim of counsel), for respondent.
Short & Billy, P.C., New York ( Skip Short of counsel), for appellant.
Russell Friedman & Associates, LLP, Garden City ( Phillip H. Kim of counsel), for respondent.
Manzanet–Daniels, J.P., Mazzarelli, Mendez, Shulman, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (W. Franc Perry, J.), entered February 7, 2020, which granted defendant CitiMed Services, PA's motion to dismiss the complaint as against it pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(2), unanimously affirmed, with costs.
Plaintiff is not entitled to de novo adjudication of the master arbitrator's award in favor of defendant CitiMed Services, PA, because the award is less than $5,000 ( Insurance Law § 5106[c] ). The medical services provided to plaintiff's insured were separate and distinct from each other, were billed separately and should not be combined to meet the $5,000 threshold for de novo review ( Imperium Ins. Co. v. Innovative Chiropractic Servs., P.C., 43 Misc.3d 137(A), 2014 N.Y. Slip Op. 50697(U), 2014 WL 1687770 [App. Term, 1st Dept. 2014] ).