In the Matter of Hanover Insurance Company, Appellant, v. Demetrio Vasquez, Respondent

In the Matter of Hanover Insurance Company, Appellant, v Demetrio Vasquez, Respondent. [39 NYS3d 459] [MAJORITY] Order and judgment (one paper), Supreme Court, New York County (Joan M. Kenney, J.), entered May 11, 2016, granting the petition to vacate an arbitration award, dated February 17, 2016, and directing the parties to proceed to a new arbitration, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, the petition denied, and the award confirmed. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly. The parties dispute whether the arbitration was voluntary or compulsory. We need not resolve the question, because the award denying respondent supplementary uninsured motorist benefits should not have been vacated even under the less stringent standard of review associated with compulsory arbitration; the award is rationally supported by the record (see Matter of Curley [State Farm Ins. Co.], 269 AD2d 240 [1st Dept 2000]). The hearing evidence includes expert opinions that respondent’s claimed neck, back and shoulder injuries resolved with physical therapy and arthroscopic surgery and that no disability arose from the motor vehicle accident, as well as medical evidence of preexisting, chronic degenerative conditions in respondent’s neck, back and shoulders. The arbitrator’s credibility findings are supported by the record, as is her resolution of the conflicts presented by the competing expert opinions. Concur — Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Richter, Manzanet-Daniels and Webber, JJ.