Opinion
176
Decided January 14, 2003.
Appeal, by permission of the Court of Appeals, from an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department, entered April 22, 2002, which affirmed a judgment of the Supreme Court (William L. Underwood, Jr., J.), entered in Suffolk County in a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 75, granting a petition to permanently stay arbitration of a supplementary uninsured motorist claim.
Submitted by Stephen L. O'Brien, for appellants.
Submitted by Christine Andreoli, for respondent.
Chief Judge Kaye and Judges Smith, Ciparick, Wesley, Rosenblatt and Graffeo concur.
MEMORANDUM:
While we agree with the Appellate Division that the insurer waived its right to deny coverage based on late notice of legal action, we disagree with the alternative ground on which the Appellate Division affirmed the stay. The requirement that claimants provide their insurer with timely notice of claim was met by the form given to the insurer eleven days after the accident detailing the claim. Claimants listed a numerical code which indicated that the other motorist was insured by the New York State Assigned Risk Plan, but also wrote "NONE" in response to the form's inquiry regarding the insurance company of the other motorist. The insurer does not contest that the form was an appropriate vehicle for notice of a supplemental uninsured motorist claim. Construing the notice liberally in claimants' favor, claimants provided their insurer with sufficient notice of a claim for uninsured motorist coverage (see Wachtel v. Equitable Life Assur. Soc. of U.S., 266 N.Y. 345, 351).
On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.4 of the Rules, order reversed, with costs, and petition to stay arbitration dismissed, in a memorandum.
Judge Read took no part