Damages

• October 21, 2026 Second Department

  Underinsured Motorist (SUM) Coverage Did Not Apply Because the Other Vehicle’s Policies, Including an Umbrella, Exceeded the Injured Driver’s Own Liability Limits (Matter of Erie Ins. Co. v Rodriguez, 2d Dept 2026)

  Supplementary underinsured motorist (SUM) coverage on your own auto policy applies only when the bodily injury liability coverage on the vehicle that caused the crash is less than the liability limits of your own policy, and the law counts all of that vehicle’s bodily injury policies. Here, the Second Department affirmed an order permanently stopping a driver’s SUM arbitration, because the other vehicle’s primary and umbrella policies together had higher limits than the $1,000,000 liability limit on his own policy.

  Vehicle and TrafficDamages

• October 13, 2026 First Department

  Dram Shop Act: A Widow May Sue a Restaurant for Her Own Loss of Support, but Her Husband’s Estate May Not (Vera v BH Broadway Owner LLC, 1st Dept 2026)

  New York’s Dram Shop Act can let a spouse who loses financial support when a drinker is hurt or killed sue the business that unlawfully served the drinker, but it gives no claim to the drinker or his estate. Here, the First Department let a widow’s own loss-of-support claim go forward against a restaurant that, she alleges, kept serving her visibly intoxicated husband before he fell down its stairs, but held that the claim fails insofar as it was brought on behalf of anyone else, including his estate.

  DamagesPremises

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Decision Day summarizes and comments on published court decisions. It is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts. Unless an entry says otherwise, The Eskesen Law Firm did not represent any party in these cases.