New York & Presbyt. Hosp. v Country Wide Ins. Co.
(Ct. Apps., decided 10/13/2011)
Can a health care services provider, as assignee of a person injured in a motor vehicle accident, recover no-fault benefits by timely submitting the required proof of claim after the 30-day period for providing written notice of the accident has expired? No, says the New York Court of Appeals.
Joaquin Benitez was injured in a traffic accident on July 19, 2008. He at received medical treatment at New York and Presbyterian Hospital from that date through July 26, 2008. On the date of his discharge, Benitez signed an Assignment of No-Fault Benefits form under which he assigned to Presbyterian "all rights, privileges and remedies to payment for health care services provided by [Presbyterian] to which [Benitez is] entitled under Article 51 (the No-Fault statute) of the Insurance Law." Benitez and Presbyterian also executed a completed NYS Form NF-5 (i.e., a hospital facility form). Neither Benitez nor Presbyterian provided the required written notice of accident to his no-fault insurer, Country Wide Insurance Company, within 30 days of the accident as required by the New York insurance regulations (11 NYCRR 65-1.1).
On August 25, 2008, Presbyterian, as assignee of Benitez, billed Country Wide for the sum of $48,697.63. In billing Country Wide, Presbyterian submitted a number of documents, including the required proof of claim (the NF-5 form). Country Wide received the bill and other documents on August 28, 2008, 40 days after the accident. Country Wide denied Presbyterian's claim on the ground it had not received timely notice of the accident under 11 NYCRR 65-1.1, which requires an "eligible insured person" to give written notice to the insurer "in no event more than 30 days after the date of the accident."
Presbyterian brought this action against Country Wide to compel payment of no-fault benefits in the amount of its bill, plus statutory interest and attorney's fees, alleging it had provided timely notice and proof of claim under 11 NYCRR 65-1.1, which requires an insured person's assignee to submit written proof of claim no later than 45 days after the date health care services are rendered. Presbyterian and Country Wide each moved for summary judgment.
Supreme Court granted Presbyterian summary judgment, ruling that the hospital satisfied its notice obligation by timely submitting the proof of claim. Citing 11 NYCRR 65-3.3 (d), the Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed (71 AD3d 1009 [2d Dept 2010]), stating "[c]ontrary to the insurer's contention, the hospital's submission of a completed hospital facility form . . . within 45 days after services were rendered satisfied the written notice requirement set forth in 11 NYCRR 65-1.1." The Court of Appeals granted Country Wide leave to appeal.
In REVERSING the Appellate Division's order, the Court of Appeals agreed with Country Wide's argument that the Appellate Division decision eviscerates the 30-day written notice of accident requirement and that the New York no-fault regulations do not contain any language which provides that submission of a proof of claim for health care services within 45 days excuses the failure to give the threshold notice of accident within 30 days of the accident. The Court rejected Presbyterian's argument that its filing of the hospital facility form within 45 days of the date services were rendered constituted both "proof of claim" and timely "notice of accident".
The "notice of accident" and "proof of claim" under 11 NYCRR 65-1.1 are independent conditions precedent to a no-fault insurer's liability (see Hospital for Joint Diseases, 9 NY3d at 317 ["These regulations require an accident victim to submit a notice of claim to the insurer as soon as practicable and no later than 30 days after an accident. Next, the injured party or the assignee (typically a hospital . . .) must submit proof of claim for medical treatment no later than 45 days after services are rendered" (9 NY3d at 317 [emphasis added] [internal citations omitted])]). By ruling that the notice of accident condition was satisfied based on the plain language of 11 NYCRR 65-3.3 (d), the Appellate Division disregarded the separate and distinct nature and purpose of these requirements. Even more troubling, such a construction effectively reads the 30-day written notice of accident requirement out of the no-fault regulations. But nothing in 11 NYCRR 65-3.3 (d) explicitly dispenses with the 30-day notice of accident requirement. Rather, 11 NYCRR 65-3.3 (d) merely provides that a NF-5 form may constitute the written notice required under the notice of accident provision.
In other words, these regulations (read alone or in tandem) cannot be interpreted to mean that a hospital/assignee's timely submission of a proof of claim for health services within 45 days of discharge of the injured person excuses the insured/assignor's failure to give the threshold notice of accident within 30 days of the accident, or that health care service providers are exempt from the written 30-day notice of accident requirement. Neither 11 NYCRR 65-1.1 nor 11 NYCRR 65-3.3 (d) contains such language. That is, while 11 NYCRR 65-3.3 (d) allows a completed hospital facility form to satisfy the written notice of accident requirement, the regulation does not provide (or suggest) that a "proof of claim" in that form filed within 45 days of treatment satisfies the 30-day notice of accident requirement where, as here, the form was submitted to Country Wide after the 30-day period has expired.
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