IME No-Show Voids NY Auto Policy, Even in PIP Arbitration: Matter of Global Liberty Ins. Co. of N.Y. v Capital Chiropractic, P. C., 2020 NY Slip Op 01466 (Appellate Division, First Department).

• Author: Rogak, Lawrence N.

In New York PIP arbitration, arbitrators are given fairly wide latitude, and as a general rule, mere mistakes of law or fact in an arbitrator's decision are not reversible by the courts.

In 2011, the Appellate Division made a landmark ruling, holding that when a PIP claimant fails to attend a duly scheduled independent medical examination or examination under oath--both of which are statutory requirements--such failure not only forfeits PIP benefits to the claimant, but it "voids the policy ab initio" ("from the inception"). That decision is referred to as the "Unitrin" rule.

PIP Arbitrators have enjoyed the option of deciding for themselves whether to "follow Unitrin," that is, to rule that an IME or EUO no-show voids the entire policy from the inception.

But now the Appellate Division holds that PIP Arbitrators must "follow Unitrin," and if they don't, the courts have to reverse them:

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Donna Mills, J.), entered April 16, 2019, which denied the petition to vacate a master arbitrator's award, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, and the petition granted.

"The master arbitrator's award was arbitrary in that it irrationally ignored well-established precedent that "the no-fault policy issued by...