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No-Fault Update
On Feb. 25, 2003, the Court of Appeals accepted the Notice of Appeal filed by the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and its co-petitioners, the New York Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Justice and Democracy, the Medical Society of the State of New York and several other health professional organizations, the Suffolk County Bar Association, two small businesses, four individual health providers and an individual policyholder, in their fight against the state Insurance Department's new No- Fault Regulations [Regulation 68]. It is the petitioners' contention that Regulation 68 is anti-consumer and that the likely effect of its extremely shortened deadlines will be to trip up honest consumers and make it difficult for them to receive their No-Fault insurance benefits. For example, under these new regulations [which remain in effect pending the outcome of the appeal], a consumer could lose all benefits for an accident simply by missing a 30-day deadline for submitting a notice of claim to the proper carrier. A broad coalition of consumer advocates, health providers and lawyers has urged that steps to eliminate the pervasive problem of insurance fraud not be so harsh as to hurt honest consumers.
In accepting the petitioners' appeal "as of right," the Court of Appeals denied their simultaneously filed motion for leave to appeal as "unnecessary."
For a copy of the complete article, contact CJ&D.
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