On Feb. 24, 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law an amended version of the Comprehensive Insurance Disclosure Act (the Act), expanding the insurance disclosure obligations imposed on defendants in civil cases filed in New York state courts. The obligations imposed by the amended version of the Act are not as extensive as those in the version originally signed by the Governor on Dec. 31, 2021, but the Act nevertheless includes significant new insurance disclosure requirements. The new requirements have been codified at §§3101(f) and 3122-b of the CPLR and became effective immediately.

Prior to the new law, the CPLR merely permitted a party to take discovery in a pending action regarding the existence and contents of any insurance policy the proceeds of which might be available to satisfy part or all of a judgment (or to indemnify or reimburse payments made to satisfy a judgment) that might be entered in the action. This column will discuss the new disclosure obligations imposed by the Act, the modifications to the original version of the Act, which scaled back some requirements, as well as some issues and concerns posed by the new disclosure obligations.

New Insurance Disclosure Obligations

The expanded requirements impose an affirmative obligation on defendants, third-party defendants and defendants on a counterclaim or cross-claim to produce "proof of the existence and contents of any insurance agreement … under which any person or entity may be liable to satisfy part or all of a judgment that may be entered in the action or to indemnify or reimburse for payments made to satisfy the entry of final judgment." CPLR §3101(f)(1). A defendants' obligation may be satisfied by production of a copy of the relevant insurance policy or, if plaintiff agrees in writing, the declarations page of the policy.