Bill Text: NY S00779 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides that payment of interest payment and attorney fees to claimant when payment of a claim is overdue shall be exclusive remedy when insurer fails to make timely payment; such failure of insurer to make timely payment or issue denial within 30 days after proof of claim has been submitted to insurer shall not preclude such insurer from issuing a denial or asserting a defense after the 30 day period has elapsed.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - REFERRED TO INSURANCE [S00779 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S00779-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           779
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     January 4, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  SEWARD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance
        AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to  payment  of  interest
          penalty  and  attorney  fees to a claimant when a claim is overdue and
          the ability of an insurer to assert a defense or deny a claim if time-
          ly payment is not made within thirty days after  proof  of  claim  has
          been submitted
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 5106  of  the  insurance  law  is
     2  amended to read as follows:
     3    (a)  Payments of first party benefits and additional first party bene-
     4  fits shall be made as the loss is incurred. Such benefits are overdue if
     5  not paid within thirty days after the claimant  supplies  proof  of  the
     6  fact  and  amount  of loss sustained. If proof is not supplied as to the
     7  entire claim, the amount which is supported by proof is overdue  if  not
     8  paid  within  thirty  days  after  such  proof  is supplied. All overdue
     9  payments shall bear interest at the rate of two percent per month. If  a
    10  valid  claim or portion was overdue, the claimant shall also be entitled
    11  to recover his  attorney's  reasonable  fee,  for  services  necessarily
    12  performed  in  connection  with  securing  payment of the overdue claim,
    13  subject to limitations promulgated by the superintendent in regulations.
    14  Payment of the interest penalty and reasonable attorney fees to a claim-
    15  ant when payment of a claim is overdue shall  be  the  exclusive  remedy
    16  when  an insurer fails to make timely payment. The failure of an insurer
    17  to make timely payment or issue a denial within thirty days after  proof
    18  of claim has been submitted to an insurer shall not preclude such insur-
    19  er  from  issuing  a  denial or asserting a defense after the thirty day
    20  period has elapsed.
    21    § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    22  have become a law.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04755-01-7