| Mount Sinai Hosp. v Dust Tr. Inc. |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 52548(U) [39 Misc 3d 1210(A)] |
| Decided on September 27, 2011 |
| Supreme Court, Nassau County |
| DeStefano, J. |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. |
Mount Sinai
Hospital, a/a/o ALISON CASSANI, Plaintiff,
against Dust Transit Inc., Defendant. |
Plaintiff's motion, pursuant to CPLR 2221, for leave to reargue a prior
motion for summary judgment which was denied by the court in an order dated
November 17, 2010, is granted. Upon reargument, it is further ordered that the Plaintiff's
motion for summary judgment is granted.
[*2]
The Plaintiff argues that it fully complied with the verification requests made by the Defendant and that the complete medical records were submitted along with the Form 5 hospital bill. Notably, while the Defendant alleged in its opposition to the underlying motion that it had not received a response to verification requests,[FN1] purportedly because these items were sent to the Defendant itself rather than Gerber & Gerber, PLLC [FN2] (defense counsel who had made the requests), the Defendant indicates in opposition to the instant motion that counsel did receive the medical and hospital records on April 8, 2010 but the Plaintiff "failed to attach this proof of mailing to their original motion papers" (Affirmation in Opposition at ¶ 12). It is significant to note that while the hospital and medical records were received by defense counsel almost two months prior to Plaintiff's service of the underlying motion for summary judgment, the fact that defense counsel had received such records was not disclosed to the court until the submission of Defendant's opposition to the instant motion.
Moreover, Farida Shabat, the no-fault claims manager with Gerber & Gerber, PLLC,
stated in her affidavit in the underlying motion as follows:
As of date [August 31, 2010], Plaintiff has failed to provide defendant with
the requested verification, specifically an itemized bill tabulated per the New York
Worker's Compensation Medical Fee Schedule with CPT codes, medical records with the
original doctor's signature verifying causal relationship to the Motor Vehicle Accident
and the hospital records with original doctor's signature, which are necessary to
determine whether to pay or deny the bills.
(Shabat Affidavit in Opposition to Underlying Motion at ¶ 10).
However, as mentioned, defense counsel states in her opposition to the instant motion
that it did receive the medical and hospital records on April 8, 2010 and, thus, contrary to
what was stated in the affidavit, defense counsel did, in fact, have possession of the
medical and hospital records prior to the date the affidavit was signed.
In addition to acknowledging receipt of the hospital and medical records, the Defendant indicates that the "missing requested information" was provided to the Defendant "for the first time" in Plaintiff's Exhibit 4 to its motion to reargue. However, a review of the documents provided in Plaintiff's Exhibit 4 demonstrate that the documents therein were previously [*3]submitted in support of Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment.
Accordingly, the Plaintiff's motion to reargue is granted and, upon reargument, summary judgment is granted in favor of the Plaintiff.
This constitutes the decision and order of the court.
DATE: September 27, 2011
__________________________________
Hon. Vito M. DeStefano, J.S.C.