Through numerous lawsuits in Nassau County Supreme Court, State Farm has pursued relentless litigation against one of the premier collision centers in New York State, and a client of our firm, Mid Island Collision. In each case, Mid Island has placed liens on cars for unpaid bills, and in each case, State Farm has attempted to invalidate those liens and obtain possession of the vehicles.
Today, the Nassau County Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mid Island Collision, against State Farm, and upheld the lien as valid. Most potently, adopting attorney Alexander Klein’s argument under the Lien Law, the Court ruled that the insurance company could not use lien-litigation to challenge labor rates because those rates had been agreed upon between the collision center and its customer.
“We hope that State Farm treats this case as the canary in the coalmine that it is,” said Klein. “The proper thing for State Farm to do at this juncture is to drop every one of its other remaining lien-suits against our client.”
