New York state's gridlocked and bloated legal system costs taxpayers and businesses $89 billion a year in excessive legal costs, according to a report released this week.
A report conducted by the American Tort Reform Association suggests that lenient liability laws and litigation-friendly policies foster an environment where greedy lawyers can make big bucks without the support of local businesses or city governments. There is.
“While the city's courts are a playground for fraudsters and opportunistic trial lawyers, honest New Yorkers are paying the price,” said ATRA President Tiger Joyce.
As a result, the Big Apple ranks second on the group's list of the nation's top 10 worst judicial hells, with Philadelphia's civil court and Pennsylvania Supreme Court tied for first place.
The tort reform report cites a study conducted last year by economic consulting firm Perryman Group to estimate the economic impact of excessive litigation. The group estimates that in New York, companies spent a whopping $88.6 billion on frivolous lawsuits.
“States' liability environments and litigation-friendly policies drive up costs and are a major factor in driving businesses and residents to greener pastures in other states,” says the National Federation of Independent Business, a small business advocacy group. said Ashley Ranslow, New York state director. .
ATRA specifically cites several key policies that it claims are contributing to rising costs, including making construction companies fully liable for workplace injuries even if an employee is at fault. This includes state scaffolding laws that impose
Critics say the law is being weaponized by shady litigation financiers who defray plaintiffs' costs, siphoning millions of dollars from businesses and local governments, many of which pay the costs of filing lawsuits. Instead, it claims to be settling lawsuits.
ATRA's report also points to New York's high auto insurance premiums as a policy that encourages fraudulent claims and increases their costs.
It also cites vague laws that allow people to seek compensation in court for vague and undefined “pain and suffering.”
“Litigation abuse is not just a problem in courtrooms,” said Tom Stebbins, executive director of the New York State Litigation Reform Alliance. “This is a real crisis.”
“Lawmakers must step up by passing tougher laws to punish car and construction site accidents, and increasing transparency around third-party funding of lawsuits.” Stebbins said in a statement.
ATRA blames much of the excessive tort costs on a group of powerful trial lawyers in New York.
The New York Trial Lawyers Association has a strong lobbying presence in Albany. Top law firms and political organizations affiliated with the association have poured millions of dollars into Republican as well as Democratic campaigns across the state.
The organization, one of New York State's largest and most powerful trial lawyer groups, is pushing to expand the state's wrongful death law, which, if passed, could cost health care workers excessive legal costs. Critics argue that there is.
The law, also known as the Grieving Families Act, allows people to seek emotional damages in wrongful death cases and includes other changes.
“If we are serious about making New York more affordable for businesses and consumers, tort reform, including a veto of the wrongful death bill, is the starting point,” a spokesperson for the New York City Business Council said in a statement. It's the perfect point.”
Supporters of the bill say it's a timely update to a statute that hasn't been updated in decades.
“After losing my partner in childbirth, I watched insurance companies use the suffering of families like mine to justify their own greed. Afterwards, while struggling to rebuild their lives, they cry out “abuse of litigation” to protect their soaring insurance premiums and record profits. It's not the lawsuits that are destroying the system. This is the insatiable greed of insurance companies,” Bruce McIntyre, an activist with the coalition Justice for Grieving Families, said in a letter. POLITICO reportedthis week.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has received more than $500,000 from top law firms and trial lawyers PACs since 2017, has vetoed the bill twice in the past two years, according to the ATRA report.
