59 A.D.2d 714 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1977
In a negligence action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident, defendant appeals (by permission) from an order of the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court for the Second and Eleventh Judicial Districts, dated January 31, 1977, which affirmed an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County, dated February 19, 1976, which denied his motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to meet the threshold requirement of section 671 (subd 4, par [b]) of the Insurance Law. Orders of the Appellate Term and Civil Court reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and motion granted. Plaintiff-respondent was allegedly injured when his vehicle was struck by that of defendant-appellant. In the course of treatment for these injuries, he incurred bills of $100 from each of two physicians, and of $1,455 from a chiropractor. Defendant sought dismissal of the complaint on the theory that chiropractic treatments were not medical services within the meaning assigned to that term by section 671 (subd 4, par [b]) of the Insurance Law and, accordingly, that plaintiff had not sustained the "serious injury” required to recover for noneconomic loss. The Civil Court disagreed, finding that chiropractic treatments did consti