Hamberger & Weiss LLP

Terranova Case Accepted for Review by N.Y. Court of Appeals

In our last issue, we discussed the Appellate Division's curious decision in Terranova v. Lehr Construction Co., 139 A.D.3d 1309 (3d Dep’t 2016). At that time, we noted that the claimant in Terranova was seeking leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals, the highest court in the State of New York. We have now learned that the Court of Appeals has granted leave to appeal, meaning that it will hear the case and, assuming perfection of the appeal by the claimant, make a decision on the merits.

Recall that in Terranova, the Appellate Division allowed a carrier to take full credit on a SLU awarded after the settlement of the claimant’s third-party action without any further contribution to litigation costs for use of that credit.

Only 2% of motions for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals are granted by the Court. The Court's acceptance of this case suggests that it may be leaning towards a reversal of the Appellate Division's decision.

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