{"id":901145,"date":"2023-05-09T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T21:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=901145"},"modified":"2023-05-09T15:09:06","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T21:09:06","slug":"reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/","title":{"rendered":"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Anthony Crawford | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.policyholderperspective.com\/2023\/04\/articles\/insurance-general\/an-insurance-companys-generic-reservation-of-right-can-lead-to-a-waiver-of-a-late-notice-defense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Red Smith<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For insurance recovery attorneys, one of the more frustrating ways for a policyholder to lose coverage for a property loss is on the basis of late notice. Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/importance-promptly-providing-notice-loss\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prompt notice<\/a>\u201d of claims and potential claims. Property policies may specify a timeframe in which the policyholder must give notice, but in many cases do not.\u00a0New York courts routinely hold that short delays, even as little as one to two months, suffice as a basis to deny coverage where the policy has \u201cprompt notice\u201d requirements.\u00a0Under New York law, however, an insurance company can waive its late notice defense by not raising it explicitly when it finally disclaims coverage. Indeed, recently, a federal court in New York court rejected the insurance company\u2019s late notice defense, even where the policyholder conceded that it did not provide prompt notice as a matter of law, because the insurance company failed to explicitly deny coverage on that ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary of recent New York federal court decision<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Mave Hotel Investors LLC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd\u2019s London<\/em>, the plaintiffs (\u201cMave\u201d) sought coverage for property damage at its hotel following the termination of its contract with a human services organization housing formerly homeless families with children at the hotel.&nbsp;No. 21-cv-08743 (JSR), 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62718 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 10, 2023). Mave alleged that its rooms were damaged while the families were living there.&nbsp;The insurer, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd\u2019s London (\u201cLloyds\u201d), ultimately denied coverage the ground that any damage was caused by ordinary wear and tear, an excluded cause of loss. At trial, however, Lloyd\u2019s moved for summary judgment, arguing among other things<em>,<\/em>&nbsp;late notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably, Mave conceded that it failed to provide \u201cprompt notice\u201d because it waited a little over three months to give notice. Mave argued, however, that Lloyd\u2019s waived its late notice defense by not raising it explicitly in its final denial letter. The letter denied Mave\u2019s claim on the basis the policy\u2019s \u201cwear and tear\u201d exclusion, but only included additional&nbsp;<em>general<\/em>&nbsp;reservation of rights language. The court agreed that Lloyd\u2019s had waived its late notice defense by denying coverage on the basis of wear-and-tear but not late-notice, even at a point in time when Lloyd\u2019s likely could have known all the facts that might have led it to disclaim coverage on late notice grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lloyd\u2019s argued that its denial letter \u201creserv[ed] each and every right [it] ha[d] under the policy and at law.\u201d&nbsp;The court acknowledged that some cases do permit an insurance company to rely on such generic reservations of rights. The court distinguished those cases because they involved reservations of rights in the insurance company\u2019s communications with the policyholder during the course of its investigation, rather than in the ultimate denial of coverage letter.&nbsp;The court reasoned that \u201cby the time the [insurance company] denies coverage, there should already be a full record and a complete investigation, and there is much less reason why [insurance companies] should be allowed to reserve generic unnamed defenses in the event of later court challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What should policyholders take away?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Give timely notice. Forfeiture of coverage for failure to give prompt notice under a property policy is a draconian penalty, but one that New York courts will impose. That said, policyholders are entitled to know\u00a0<em>all<\/em>\u00a0grounds on which their insurance company is denying coverage. Policyholders should challenge the insurance company when it attempts to raise additional defenses, such as late notice, that the insurance company failed to raise when denying coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthony Crawford | Red Smith For insurance recovery attorneys, one of the more frustrating ways for a policyholder to lose coverage for a property loss is on the basis of late notice. Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201cprompt notice\u201d of claims and potential claims. Property policies may specify&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10885],"tags":[9895,11837,10701,10749],"class_list":["post-901145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-insurance-claims","tag-advise-consult","tag-prompt-notice-provision","tag-property-insurance-claims","tag-reservation-of-rights","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201cprompt notice\u201d of claims and potential claims\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201cprompt notice\u201d of claims and potential claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-09T21:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-09T21:09:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-09T21:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-09T21:09:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\"},\"wordCount\":669,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Advise &amp; Consult\",\"Prompt Notice Provision\",\"Property Insurance Claims\",\"Reservation of Rights\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Property Insurance Claims\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\",\"name\":\"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-09T21:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-09T21:09:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201cprompt notice\u201d of claims and potential claims\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201cprompt notice\u201d of claims and potential claims","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201cprompt notice\u201d of claims and potential claims","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2023-05-09T21:09:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-09T21:09:06+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense","datePublished":"2023-05-09T21:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-09T21:09:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/"},"wordCount":669,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Advise &amp; Consult","Prompt Notice Provision","Property Insurance Claims","Reservation of Rights"],"articleSection":["Property Insurance Claims"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/","name":"An Insurance Company\u2019s Generic Reservation of Right can Lead to a Waiver of a Late Notice Defense - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-09T21:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-09T21:09:06+00:00","description":"Property insurance policies generally require the policyholder to give the insurance company \u201cprompt notice\u201d of claims and potential claims","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/reservation-of-rights-waiver-of-late-notice\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3MqB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901146,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901145\/revisions\/901146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}