Group fighting auto insurance suits, litigation gives Hochul kudos for pushing NYS law

A group lobbying to curb runaway lawsuits praised Gov. Kathy Hochul as a “Tort Reform Trailblazer’” for ramming through a new state law that tackles costly accident litigation and auto insurance fraud.

“Gov. Hochul delivered real, measurable progress for New Yorkers this year, and that deserves credit,” said Lauren Sheets Jarrell, the American Tort Reform Association’s vice president and counsel for civil justice policy.

“Over the objections of a reluctant legislature in ‘limbo,’ Gov. Hochul showed up as a ‘Tort Reform Trailblazer.’”

Hochul secured a package of auto liability and anti-fraud reforms as part of the state budget approved May 27 — a move lawmakers had resisted for years, ATR said.

New Yorkers pay on average more than $4,000 a year for car insurance, which is $1,500 more than the national average, according to the governor’s office. Hochul hopes to trim insurance premiums by 10%.

The trial lawyers lobby and many Democratic lawmakers initially resisted Hochul’s proposals to rein in costly lawsuits involving fraud, negligent drivers and excessive insurance payouts.

Under the law, damages are capped for people who are mostly at fault for causing a crash and want to sue their victims for large checks. Payouts are limited to $100,000 for people who were driving uninsured, drunk or while committing a felony even if you aren’t at fault.

The serious injury threshold is more restrictive so damages for pain and suffering or emotional distress are for victims that can prove they suffered a severe injury.

On the fraud side, the law makes it a crime to hire, recruit or orchestrate someone else into staging a car crash, and bars medical care providers with a history of misconduct from treating workers’ compensation patients or performing independent medical exams.

“These reforms strike directly at New York’s ‘fraudemic,’” Sheets Jarrell of ATRA said. “For years, unscrupulous lawyers and the medical providers working with them made staged accidents and inflated injury claims a business model. This law finally gives prosecutors and insurers the tools to go after everyone involved, not just the driver behind the wheel.”

Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, said, “By pushing back against Albany’s most powerful special interest and delivering historic liability reforms, Gov. Hochul has shown what true leadership — and what a real affordability agenda — looks like.”

Despite the progress, Stebbins and Sheets Jarrell said New York remains a “judicial hellhole.”

“The Legislature should follow her lead by modernizing New York’s outdated, lawsuit-friendly laws instead of protecting the billboard lawyers’ business model. New York will never be affordable for working families as long as it remains a Judicial Hellhole, and a haven for fraudsters and profiteering attorneys,” Stebbins said.

The law also increases oversight of insurance companies.

Insurers will face tougher scrutiny over rates they set to prevent excess profits.

Democrat Hochul is seeking re-election to a second, four-year term after replacing ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021.

She faces off against Republican Bruce Blakeman.