Litigation Alert: Likely (But Not Certain) Amendments to Onerous New Disclosure Requirements in CPLR 3101(f) (January 28th Update)

By the time New York’s Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act became effective on January 1^st, many New York attorneys, many clients, and many New York legislators realized that the Act’s ham-handed, burdensome, and ambiguous amendments to CPLR 3101(f) disclosure requirements ought to be revisited.

It is hard to understand why such obviously flawed legislation had to be enacted before most legislators seemed to have read it. That said, it now seems some measure of sanity will prevail, and amendments to the Act are working their way through the Assembly and seem headed for enactment.  These amendments, if enacted, will reel in some of the problematic aspects of the Act, for example, by:

• Applying the new disclosure rules only to newly filed cases, and extending the deadline from 60 to 90 days after the filing of an Answer;

• Eliminating the requirement that all primary, excess and umbrella policies be disclosed, except “insofar as such documents relate to the claim being litigated”;

• Allowing parties to agree to limit disclosure of a policy to its Declaration Page;

• Creating a “reasonable efforts” standard for making accurate and complete disclosures;

• Eliminating the Act’s requirement that policy applications be disclosed; and

• Eliminating the Act’s requirement for disclosure of detailed information involving prior suits that eroded available limits, although erosion information itself must still be disclosed.

There are other amendments, and they do not eliminate all of the problematic aspects of the Act, some of which will not be affected. Most are predicting that the amendments will be enacted, but New York attorneys and our clients should keep in mind that, for now, the March 1^st deadline for previously file cases, remains in effect pending any amendments.

This content is provided as background and does not constitute legal advice.  The attorneys at our firm have many years of experience with insurance coverage issues in New York courts. For more information or to schedule a free consultation, contact us at info@lalorattorneys.com / 646.818.9870.