United States Second Circuit

Dispositive issue arising from dismissal of claim for long-term disability benefits is certified to the New York Court of Appeals as whether New York Insurance Law section 3234(a)(2) means that: 1) a policy may impose a 12-month waiting period during which no benefits will be paid for disability stemming from a pre-existing condition and arising in the first 12 months of coverage; or 2) a policy may lawfully include a permanent absolute bar to coverage of disabilities resulting from pre-existing conditions that trigger disability within the first twelve months of the employee's coverage.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/14/2006
• Published 12/15/2006

Judges

• PER CURIAM:, Before: WINTER, CABRANES, and POOLER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Eve-Lynn Gisonni, Gisonni & Harms, LLP (Richard Harms on the brief), Woodbury, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant., Robert H. Easton, Deputy Solicitor General (Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York,Caitlin J. Halligan, Solicitor General, Benjamin N. Gutman, Assistant Solicitor General, on the brief), New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae State of New York in Support of Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Amy Posner, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Long Island City, N.Y. (Allen M. Marcus, Lester Schwab Katz & Dwyer LLP, New York, NY, on the brief) for Defendants-Appellees., Richard H. Streeter, Carolyn Doppelt Gray, Theresa L. Jakubowski, Barnes & Thornburg, LLP, Washington, DC;  Lisa Tate, American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae American Council of Life Insurers in Support of Appellees.