New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, signed into law amendments to the Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act (“the Act”) originally effective on January 1, 2022. The amendments reduce the burden that the initial bill placed on insurers and defendants by lessening the disclosure requirements.
Under the new requirements, disclosure of insurance policies must be produced within 90 days of filing an Answer, and if plaintiff provides written consent, a defendant need only provide a copy of the Declaration page, rather than proof of the existence and contents of any insurance agreement. Plaintiffs are permitted to withdraw consent at any time and then defendant must disclose the entire contents of the insurance agreements that relate to the matter being litigated. Defendant must also disclose the name and email address of the individual assigned to adjusting the claim, and Third-Party administrators no longer need to disclose the person at the insurance company that they report to. Moreover, while defendants must disclose their policy limits after taking into account erosion and other offsets, defendants are no longer required to disclose information on other lawsuits that have eroded the policy or attorneys who have been provided payments. Defendants must make reasonable efforts to provide updated information to the parties to whom this information has been provided. Updated information must be provided at the filing of the note of issue, when entering into formal settlement negotiations, at mediations, when the case is called for trial, and for sixty days after any settlement or entry of final judgment. Additionally, disclosure of policy limits will not constitute an admission that an alleged injury or damage is covered by the policy.
Of significance, insurance applications are no longer required to be disclosed, thereby avoiding issues regarding disclosure of proprietary and financial information that may not be relevant to the lawsuit. Further, the requirements under this Act do not apply to No-Fault and PIP actions.
The disclosure requirements under the Act will only apply to lawsuits filed after December 31, 2021. Carriers and defendants do not need to look back to active cases to provide this information but only going forward with the earliest disclosure due April 1, 2022, for any Answers filed on January 1, 2022.
The amendments to the Act significantly change many of the onerous provisions that defendants and insurers were required to disclose, and while not perfect, are a welcome change to from the initial disclosure requirement.
New York Amends Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act