Valdiviezo v. Tower Ins. Co. of NY, Index No. 150596/2017 (New York Co. Sup. Ct., July 5, 2019).
This case involved a first-party property insurance dispute in which the insurer denied a claim for fire damage to a multi-family building. The policy at issue identified the building on the declarations page as a single-family dwelling.
Shortly following the insurer's request for a preliminary conference, the court granted the insured's counsel's motion for leave to withdraw and ordered the insured to either appoint substitute counsel within 30 days or notify the court of her intent to proceed pro se. After the insured failed to appear at the scheduled conference, the court ordered that another failure to appear would result in dismissal of the suit. Not only did the insured not appear at the next conference, she failed to appoint substitute counsel or notify the court of her intent to proceed pro se. On the insurer's motion, the court dismissed the case.
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