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Negligent Contractor Issue in NYS

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AdamKinNYC

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
I hired a contractor to do interior construction work on a cabin that I'm building in Ulster County, New York. We entered into a written agreement and I was provided with a certificate of insurance. Among the things the contractor was supposed to do is arrange for a subcontractor to install foam insulation in accordance with code/the specifications of the contract (the contract had language about how much foam was needed, etc.). The contractior was paid roughly 70% of the cost of installing the foam prior to the end of 2013. The foam was supposed to be installed in December of 2013. That month, the contractor advised me that they had determined that an indefinite delay in installing the foam was appropriate and gave me a wishy-washy explanation as to why. The foam ultimately went in in February 2014. Once that was done, they drywalled the ceilings and walls.
A few months later, I replaced these contractors with a new contractor, who told me that the insulation had never been inspected by the local Code Enforcement Officer ("CEO"). Recently, the CEO came to the cabin, drilled some holes in the ceilings and walls, and determined that the insulation was woefully short of code and ordered that the drywall come down. When I contacted the original contractor's insurance company, I learned that they let their policy lapse in December of 2013 due to non-payment of premium. Nonetheless, I did file a claim with that insurer, and they have sent out an adjuster. A claim is pending.
My question is, what's most relevant, the dates of payment for the product/service (which occurred while the policy was in force), or the date the foam went in (which was after the policy lapsed)?
BTW, they never put the deposits into escrow. And I've also heard from other people in town that the original contractor ended up installing the foam themselves rather than use the designated subcontractor (who was specified in the contract).
 
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