By Joshua Blosveren, R. Matthew Burke, Mark A. Berman, & Paul F. Downs
In 2025, New York’s Commercial Division expanded its authority to hear complex insurance disputes, including those involving bodily injury and property damage. The changes clarify which types of insurance cases—like environmental, cyber, and business interruption—are within its jurisdiction and remove previous exclusions for first-party claims. These reforms make it easier for large insurance cases to be litigated in New York, aligning with other states and strengthening its role as a leading venue for such disputes. The amendments are not retroactive.
For years, cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial insurance coverage were turned away from New York’s Commercial Division because they sought declarations relating to underlying claims for bodily injury or property damage. That changed on Nov. 3, 2025, when Administrative Order 282/25 took effect, amending several provisions of the Commercial Division Rules (22 NYCRR §202.70) to clarify and expand the Commercial Division’s jurisdiction over complex commercial insurance disputes.
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