After a term of transition for the New York Court of Appeals—with Associate Judge Eugene F. Pigott, Jr., retiring at the end of 2016, Associate Judge Rowan D. Wilson joining in February 2017, Associate Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s death in April 2017, and Associate Judge Paul G. Feinman joining at the end of June 2017—the 2017-2018 term was stable, and productive. The court decided seven significant insurance cases. In four, the court was unanimous. In two of the other cases, the court sided with insurers, while it gave policyholders a win in the remaining case. The court voted to affirm in three cases, reversed in three, and answered a certified question in the other. At this early stage in this court’s history, there does not yet seem to be a consistent lineup of judges on the carrier or the policyholder side.

“Excess Line”

On Oct. 19, the court decided its first insurance case of the term, Excess Line Association of N.Y. v. Waldorf & Associates, 30 N.Y.3d 119 (2017), a unanimous decision by Judge Leslie E. Stein. The issue here was rather straightforward: Did the Excess Line Association of New York (ELANY)—a legislatively created advisory association under the supervision of the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS)—have the capacity to sue its members to recover fees that it was statutorily authorized to receive and to compel an accounting to determine amounts allegedly owed.

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