59 A.D.2d 737 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1977
In an action on a policy of fire insurance, defendant appeals from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County, dated February 16, 1977, as denied its cross motion for summary judgment. Order modified, on the law, by deleting therefrom the provisions which deny plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and by substituting therefor provisions granting summary judgment to the plaintiff in the amount of $11,300. As so modified, order affirmed, with $50 costs and disbursements to the plaintiff. The alleged termination of coverage, by the terms of the binder, was a "cancellation” requiring 10 days’ written notice to plaintiff mortgagee (see Insurance Law, § 168). Further, such requirement could not be fulfilled by the binder issued. "In the absence of waiver or estoppel, a notice of cancellation must be clear, unconditional, and unequivocal, and a mere expression of a purpose or intention to cancel in the future is not sufficient; that is, it must be one of actual cancellation, not of future conditional cancellation, or of doubtful meaning as to time or purpose.” (17 Couch, Insurance 2d, § 67:144,