Opinion
2914.
Decided March 23, 2004.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Edmead, J.), entered August 6, 2003, which denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and granted defendant's cross motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, defendant's cross motion denied and plaintiff's motion for summary judgment granted. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $32,175.00 plus interest from September 13, 2002, the date of entry of the underlying default judgment.
Jose R. Mendez, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Ernest S. Buonocore, for Defendant-Respondent.
Before: Tom, J.P., Andrias, Saxe, Ellerin, Marlow, JJ.
An insurer's unexplained failure to provide notice as soon as is reasonably possible precludes an effective disclaimer even though the policyholder's own notice of the incident to its insurer is untimely ( see First Financial Ins. Co. v. Jetco Contr. Corp., 1 N.Y.3d 64; Hartford Ins. Co. v. County of Nassau, 46 N.Y.2d 1028, 1029). Here, defendant's eight-month delay in disclaiming coverage is unreasonable as a matter of law ( see First Financial Ins. and Hartford Ins., supra), and hence plaintiff should have been granted summary judgment in the amount of the underlying default judgment.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.