As New York Civil Law reported back in August (see post), Governor Spitzer vetoed the Senate Bill No. 06306, which was two-pronged.  The Bill would have prohibited insurers from denying coverage for late notice of claims unless the insurers demonstrated that they sustained "material prejudice" from the delayed notice.  The Bill also would have permitted claimants in an underlying tort claim to bring a declaratory judgment action for a determination of the existence and the extent of insurance coverage an insurer owed to the party against whom the underlying claim was interposed.

Governor Spitzer’s veto memorandum (Download veto_98.pdf ) indicates to me that he will sign a similar bill in the future if it goes through a more deliberative process.  Bill No. 06306  was introduced and passed both Houses in the matter of days.  Also, similar bills have proposed several times in the past, so I assume a new one will sprout up soon enough.  So the veto of Bill No. 06306 appears to be a pyrrhic one to me.