Opinion
No. 12–110.
2012-08-24
LI–ELLE SERVICES, INC. a/a/o Esperanza Gil, Plaintiff–Respondent,— v. MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT INDEMNIFICATION CORP., Defendant–Appellant.
Defendant appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Fernando Tapia, J.), entered March 4, 2011, which denied its motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.
Present: SHULMAN, J.P., HUNTER, Jr., TORRES, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Order (Fernando Tapia, J.), entered March 4, 2011, affirmed, with $10 costs.
The action, seeking recovery of no-fault first-party benefits, is not ripe for summary dismissal, since defendant MVAIC failed in its burden to establish, prima facie, that plaintiff's assignor was not a “qualified person” entitled to no-fault coverage ( see Englingtom Med. PC v. Motor Veh. Acc. Indem. Corp., 81 AD3d 223, 229 [2011];Matter of MVAIC v. Interboro Med. Care & Diagnostic, PC, 73 AD3d 667 [2010];Omega Diagnostic Imaging, P.C. v. MVAIC, 29 Misc.3d 129[A], 2010 N.Y. Slip Op 51779[U][2010] ). Given defendant's failure to meet its initial burden of demonstrating entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, summary dismissal of the complaint was properly denied irrespective of the sufficiency of plaintiff's opposition ( see Alvarez v. Prospect Hosp., 68 N.Y.2d 320, 324 [1986] ).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.