New York Insurance Law § 3421 Version 2.0 — Liability Insurance for Specific Breed Dog-Owning Homeowners

On January 28, 2022, New York Insurance Law § 3421 was signed into law, mandating that for all New York homeowners policies “issued, renewed, modified, altered or amended on or after” April 28, 2022, “no insurer shall refuse to issue or renew, cancel, or charge or impose an increased premium or rate for such policy or contract based solely upon harboring or owning any dog of a specific breed or mixture of breeds.”  As I said then in this post, the new law mentioned only underwriting functions, not claims functions, and there was nothing in the new statute expressly prohibiting insurers from including a canine exclusion in a New York homeowners policy or in denying coverage based on such an exclusion.Someone in Albany caught that, and on March 15, 2023 New York Insurance Law § 3421 2.0 was  signed into law, amending subdivision 1 of that section to provide that “no insurer shall refuse to issue or renew, cancel, or charge or impose an increased premium or rate for such policy or contract, OR EXCLUDE, LIMIT, RESTRICT, OR REDUCE COVERAGE UNDER SUCH POLICY OR CONTRACT based solely upon harboring or owning any dog of a specific breed or mixture of breeds.” [Added language in caps.]  I blogged about that amendment here.  

As with its Version 1.0, the amended § 3421, with its added prohibition of specific breed canine exclusions or limitations, took effect 90 days after it became law and applies to all New York homeowners policies “issued, renewed, modified, altered or amended on or after” June 13, 2023 (90 days after March 15, 2023).

So, with respect to the…

Underwriting Function: NY HO insurers may not negatively underwrite (refuse to issue or renew, cancel or charge more premium) NY HO policies issued, renewed, altered or amended on or after April 28, 2023, based solely on a policyholder’s harboring/owning a dog of a specific breed or mixture of specific breeds; andClaims Function: NY HO insurers may not include or enforce within NY HO policies  issued, renewed, altered or amended on or after June 13, 2023, any exclusions, limitations, restrictions or coverage reductions based solely on a policyholder’s harboring/owning a dog of a specific breed or mixture of specific breeds.