Progressive Casualty Insurance Company a/s/o Stephen Maffee v. New York State Insurance Fund, (Appellate Division, Second Department, Docket Number 5315/07)
Order Date: January 8, 2008

CC&I filed an appeal of a lower court decision which denied Progressive’s motion to vacate an arbitration award that required Progressive to reimburse No-Fault first party payments paid by the New York State Insurance Fund to its employee.  The employee was a garbage collector and was struck by Progressive’s insured’s vehicle, while he was standing in the street near his garbage truck.  An arbitrator determined that the garbage truck was involved in the accident, despite the fact that there was no contact between the Progressive vehicle and the garbage truck, and therefore the New York State Insurance Fund was permitted reimbursement of the No-Fault benefits it paid, under Insurance Law §5105.  Progressive filed a motion to vacate the arbitration award, which was denied.  On appeal, CC&I argued that the decision lacked any rational basis, as the garbage truck was not involved in the accident.  The Second Department agreed with this position, and reversed the lower court’s decision.

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