Opinion
Submitted June 23, 1999
October 21, 1999
William M. Ezersky, New Hyde Park, N.Y., for appellant.
Diamond, Paino, Cardo, King, Peters Fodera, Brooklyn, N Y (Deborah F. Peters of counsel), for respondent.
CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, J.P., DAVID S. RITTER, DANIEL W. JOY, MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, NANCY E. SMITH, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
In an arbitration proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 75, the petitioner appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Murphy, J.), entered January 6, 1998, which granted the application of the respondent Liberty Mutual Insurance Company to vacate an arbitration award dated April 23, 1997.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The Supreme Court properly vacated the arbitration award based on the misconduct of the petitioner's attorneys. The April 19, 1996, arbitration demand was served on the respondent, rather than on its attorneys, and was hidden among voluminous other documents to prevent the respondent from contesting the issue of arbitrability (see, Rider Ins. Co. v. Marino, 84 A.D.2d 832 ; Matter of Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 75 A.D.2d 765 ). In addition, the petitioner failed to comply with a prior order of the same court, dated October 23, 1996, requiring the completion of discovery before arbitration.
O'BRIEN, J.P., RITTER, JOY, ALTMAN, and SMITH, JJ., concur.