Opinion
April 13, 1992
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Molloy, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, with costs, the petition is granted, and arbitration is permanently stayed.
Although the insurance policy at issue is arguably ambiguous as to whether the respondent had purchased merely the required uninsured motorist coverage (see, Insurance Law § 3420 [f] [1]) or whether he had also purchased underinsured motorist coverage (see, Insurance Law § 3420 [f] [2]), the petitioner was entitled to a stay of arbitration. Since the respondent clearly purchased a policy with a $10,000 limit for bodily injury for "each person" and $20,000 for "each accident" and since the policy covering the other vehicle involved in t`e accident had a limit of $25,000, "underinsured" motorist coverage was "definitionally not available" (see, Maurizzio v Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., 73 N.Y.2d 951, 953; Matter of Aetna Cas. Sur. Co. v Schulman, 162 A.D.2d 450, 451), and there can be no claim to arbitrate here. Thompson, J.P., Harwood, Balletta and Copertino, JJ., concur.