Judge Katherine Levine
The court opined on an apparently novel issue—if MVAIC had an obligation to independently verify assignor’s address after it received documents from provider Canon Chiropractic which listed two different addresses. Four requests to qualify to assignor stated he did not yet meet requirements of a qualified person as numerous outstanding items were not received, thus he could not be considered a covered person. The court found Canon failed to make out its prima facie case as the record was clear assignor never submitted required items to MVAIC. It noted it was Canon’s initial negligence by placing the wrong address on the bills causing MVAIC to mail the letters to the wrong address. The court noted the letters by MVAIC were clearly received by Canon putting it on notice assignor was not complying with the reporting requirements so as to qualify as a covered person. It ruled Canon stepped into assignor’s shoes and was obliged to correctly transmit the assignor’s correct address on its bills to MVAIC, and ensure assignor complied with its obligation to become a qualified person, a covered person entitled to recover no-fault benefits. Thus, the court concluded MVAIC proved its lack of coverage defense, and the case was dismissed.
