Opinion
July 17, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Trainor, R.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
The Referee properly determined that Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (hereinafter Liberty Mutual) had insured the motor vehicle that had struck Lori Kanter's motor vehicle. At the hearing, the petitioner, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, met its burden of proving that the offending vehicle was insured by Liberty Mutual by producing a certified copy of the vehicle's registration record which indicates that it was insured by Liberty Mutual as of April 30, 1986 (see, Matter of State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Fenelon, 202 A.D.2d 436; Matter of Eagle Ins. Co. v. Tichman, 185 A.D.2d 884; Matter of Insurance Co. v. Castillo, 158 A.D.2d 691).
The burden of proof then shifted to Liberty Mutual, as the party seeking to disclaim coverage, to demonstrate that it had cancelled the offending vehicle's insurance policy prior to the accident in question (see, Matter of Allstate Ins. Co. v Ramirez, 208 A.D.2d 828; Matter of Worldwide Underwriters Ins. Co. v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., 181 A.D.2d 784; Matter of Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Horowitz, 121 A.D.2d 634). Liberty Mutual failed to produce any evidence indicating that it had filed a notice of cancellation with the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles (see, Vehicle and Traffic Law § 313, [3]; Matter of Eveready Ins. Co. v. Wilson, 180 A.D.2d 796; Matter of Prudential Prop. Cas. Ins. Co., 120 A.D.2d 736; see also, Matter of Government Empls. Ins. Co. v. Barthold, 194 A.D.2d 724). Therefore, the Referee properly granted the petition permanently staying arbitration of Kanter's uninsured motorist claim. Miller, J.P., Altman, Goldstein and Florio, JJ., concur.