February 27, 2026

Health Value Med., P.C. v Country-Wide Ins. Co. (2026 NY Slip Op 50677(U))

https://www.beynensonlaw.com/case-law/health-value-med-p-c-v-country-wide-ins-co-2026-ny-slip-op-50677u/

Court
Appellate Term, Second Department
Decided
February 27, 2026
Citation
2026 NY Slip Op 50677(U) · 88 Misc 3d 134(A)
Posture
Default or vacatur
Outcome
Split result
Issues
Interest and attorney fees Defaults and vacatur
Cite as
Health Value Med., P.C. v Country-Wide Ins. Co., 88 Misc 3d 134(A), 2026 NY Slip Op 50677(U) (App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2026)

Posture, outcome, issues and treatment by other decisions are Beynenson Law’s classification. Treatment labels are assigned by a language model reading the citing decision; negative and appeal-history labels are checked by a second reader.

Summary

Editorial summary by Beynenson Law, not part of the court’s decision.

Interest on an unpaid settlement runs from tender of the settlement documents, rather than the settlement date, under CPLR 5003-a (e). The insurer sought to vacate a judgment entered on default under a no-fault settlement or eliminate interest and attorney's fees. It failed to establish that the settlement was unenforceable, and the provider's delay in entering judgment did not toll interest. The Appellate Term, Second Department, modified the order to provide compound statutory no-fault interest from December 1, 2011, when settlement documents were tendered, instead of the October 24, 2008 settlement date. It also vacated the $850 attorney's fee award because CPLR 5003-a (e) does not authorize that award, and otherwise affirmed.

Reported in New York Official Reports at Health Value Med., P.C. v Country-Wide Ins. Co. (2026 NY Slip Op 50677(U))

Health Value Med., P.C. v Country-Wide Ins. Co.
2026 NY Slip Op 50677(U) [88 Misc 3d 134(A)]
Decided on February 27, 2026
Appellate Term, Second Department
As corrected in part through July 17, 2026; it will not be published in the printed Official Reports.
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.


Digest-Index Classification: Interest—Computation–Settlement

Health Value Medical, P.C., as Assignee of Ganesh Mahendra, Respondent,

v

Country-Wide Insurance Company, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Term, Second Department, 2d, 11th And 13th Judicial Districts

Decided on February 27, 2026

2024-780 Q C

Present: : Wavny Toussaint, P.J., Marina Cora Mundy, Lisa S. Ottley, JJ

Thomas Torto, Esq., for appellant. Glinkenhouse Queen, Esqs. (Alan Queen of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Ira R. Greenberg, J.), dated July 9, 2024. The order denied defendant’s motion to vacate a judgment entered September 13, 2023 pursuant to a default under a settlement.

[*1]

ORDERED that the order is modified by granting defendant’s motion to the extent of vacating so much of the September 13, 2023 judgment as awarded plaintiff $850 in attorney’s fees and by providing that statutory no-fault interest shall accrue from December 1, 2011 at a compound rate; as so modified, the order is affirmed, without costs.

In this action by a provider to recover assigned first-party no-fault benefits, a judgment was entered on September 13, 2023, pursuant to CPLR 5003-a (e), awarding plaintiff $911.26 as the principal sum, plus $850 in attorney’s fees, $30,415.80 in statutory no-fault interest from October 24, 2008 at a compound rate, and additional costs, for a total of $32,402.06. Defendant appeals from an order of the Civil Court (Ira R. Greenberg, J.) dated July 9, 2024 denying the branch of defendant’s motion seeking to vacate the September 13, 2023 judgment entered pursuant to CPLR 5003-a (e) and denying the branch of defendant’s motion seeking the alternative relief of resettling and recalculating the judgment to eliminate the awards for [*2]attorney’s fees and interest.

Contrary to defendant’s argument, it did not establish that there was no enforceable settlement between the parties in this action. We further find that defendant’s remaining grounds for vacating the judgment lack merit.

Defendant’s argument that the judgment should be recalculated to toll interest based on plaintiff’s delay in entering judgment after the October 24, 2008 settlement also lacks merit (see CPLR 5003-a [e]; Berenblit v Country Wide Ins. Co., 85 Misc 3d 135[A], 2025 NY Slip Op 50487[U] [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2025]; Metro Med. Diagnostics, P.C. v Country Wide Ins. Co., 81 Misc 3d 142[A], 2024 NY Slip Op 50119[U] [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2024]; Seaside Rehabilitation v Allstate Ins. Co., 63 Misc 3d 162[A], 2019 NY Slip Op 50918[U] [App Term, 2d Dept, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2019]). However, we find that the clerk should not have awarded interest from October 24, 2008, the date of settlement, but from December 1, 2011, the date the settlement documents were tendered to defendant (see CPLR 5003-a [e]; J.D.T. v Chaimowitz, 218 AD3d 821, 823 [2023]).

Lastly, we find that the clerk improperly awarded $850 in attorney’s fees to plaintiff since CPLR 5003-a (e) does not provide for such an award (see Liss v Bringham Park Coop. Apts. Sec. No. 3, 264 AD2d 717, 718 [1999]).

Accordingly, the order is modified by granting defendant’s motion to the extent of vacating so much of the September 13, 2023 judgment as awarded plaintiff $850 in attorney’s fees and by providing that statutory no-fault interest shall accrue from December 1, 2011 at a compound rate.

TOUSSAINT, P.J., MUNDY and OTTLEY, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

Jennifer Chan

Chief Clerk

Decision Date: February 27, 2026

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