April 24, 2008

A.T. Med., P.C. v State Farm Ins. Co. (2008 NY Slip Op 50875(U))

Headnote

The relevant facts of the case include that the plaintiff, A.T. Medical, P.C., sought to recover first-party no-fault benefits as an assignee of an individual. The court granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, awarding them $3,458.29. However, the defendant, State Farm Insurance Company, appealed the decision, arguing that an injunction issued by Justice Kenneth Davis barred the plaintiff from commencing suit against them to recover the benefits. The Appellate Term agreed with the defendant, finding that the injunction indeed barred the plaintiff from making the summary judgment motion. As a result, the judgment was reversed, the order granting summary judgment was vacated, and the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was denied without prejudice. Therefore, the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was ultimately unsuccessful due to the injunction.

Reported in New York Official Reports at A.T. Med., P.C. v State Farm Ins. Co. (2008 NY Slip Op 50875(U))

A.T. Med., P.C. v State Farm Ins. Co. (2008 NY Slip Op 50875(U)) [*1]

A.T. Med., P.C. v State Farm Ins. Co.

2008 NY Slip Op 50875(U) [19 Misc 3d 138(A)]

Decided on April 24, 2008

Appellate Term, Second Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on April 24, 2008

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

APPELLATE TERM: 2nd and 11th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS

PRESENT: : PESCE, P.J., WESTON PATTERSON and RIOS, JJ
2006-989 Q C.

A.T. Medical, P.C. as assignee of KATERYNA KOZHEVNIKOVA , Respondent,
against
State Farm Ins. Co., Appellant.

Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Gerald Dunbar, J.), entered March 14, 2006, deemed from a judgment entered May 12, 2006 (see CPLR 5501 [c]). The judgment, entered pursuant to the March 14, 2006 order granting plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $3,458.29.

Judgment reversed without costs, order granting plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment vacated and plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment denied without prejudice.

In this action by a provider to recover assigned first-party no-fault benefits, the court granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, and a judgment was subsequently entered pursuant thereto.

On appeal, defendant contends that, in an action brought by defendant herein against health care providers including plaintiff herein, Justice Kenneth Davis of the Nassau County Supreme Court enjoined, inter alia, plaintiff herein, from commencing suit against defendant to recover no-fault benefits during the pendency of the action. Accordingly, defendant argues that the summary judgment motion herein was improperly made. Upon a review of the orders issued by Justice Davis appended to opposition papers below, we agree that the injunction barred the motion.

Accordingly, the judgment is reversed, the order granting summary judgment is vacated and plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is denied without prejudice.

Pesce, P.J., Weston Patterson and Rios, JJ., concur.