Justice Eileen Bransten
Plaintiff Empire Healthchoice Assurance Inc. alleged that it entered into a group health insurance contract with Executive Care Service LLC, a chiropractic medical practice for which defendant doctor, Lester, is the Group Benefits Administrator. Empire contended that Lester and his family were covered by it from 2005 until 2008 and that Empire paid $448,873 for treatment that Lester performed on his immediate family during that time. The Lesters disputed the existence of any contract and failed to produce 248 medical records relating to claims filed by Lester for his treatment of his family. The defendants stated that their failure to comply with a conditional order to respond to Empire's discovery requests was due to the fact that Empire has received a sufficient number of medical records to prosecute its claim. The court found defendants in default and referred the damages inquest to a special referee.
