New York: Two-Year Delay in Contesting Coverage Bars Carrier From Pushing Loss to Second Carrier

Where a carrier accepted the claim and did not contest coverage for two years, it was appropriate for the Board to apply the doctrine of laches and preclude that carrier from litigation the coverage issue with another carrier. The court acknowledged that the first carrier contended its delay in challenging coverage was due to “complex” coverage issues but found that the carrier did not further elaborate on these issues nor did it adequately explain why it took two years to determine that it was not the proper carrier. Under these circumstances, the court found that the first carrier had not established an excusable delay in contesting coverage.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Matter of Nunez v Ulster Boces/Arden Hill, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8546 (3d Dept., Dec. 13, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 153.04.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law