New York Governor Kathy Hochul, for the third straight year, has vetoed the Grieving Families Act, legislation that would completely overhaul wrongful death claims in New York by permitting recovery for emotional damages and expanding the class of persons who can seek recovery for a fatality.

Hurwitz Fine Litigation Associates Patrice C.S. Melville and Ashley M. Cuneo authored “A Decade of Changes to Wrongful Death Statues Across the United States” in the Winter 2024 issue of The Brief, the American Bar Association (ABA)’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice (TIPS) magazine.

For now the third straight year, New York’s legislature has passed a revised version of “the Grieving Families Act,” legislation that would completely overhaul wrongful death claims in New York by permitting recovery for emotional damages and expanding the class of persons who can seek recovery for a fatality. The current bill (A9232-b/S8485-b) still greatly expands the categories of available damages from New York’s current wrongful death statute which limits damages to economic or pecuniary losses of the survivors resulting from the death, the medical and funeral costs related to the final injury or illness, and the value of parental guidance, nurturing and care for surviving children.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, for the second time in as many years, has vetoed the Grieving Families Act, legislation that would completely overhaul wrongful death claims in New York by permitting recovery for emotional damages and expanding the class of persons who can seek recovery for a fatality. The bill was delivered to the Governor’s desk on December 29, 2023, and vetoed that same day.

Hurwitz Fine P.C. is proud to announce that the firm has been ranked in the inaugural Chambers 2024 New York Regional Spotlight Guide for Dispute Resolution, which encompasses both litigation and insurance disputes.

Earlier this week, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed two bills amending Rule 2106 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules to provide for greater use of affirmations in lieu of notarized affidavits in civil proceedings.

New York proposes legislation conditioning a foreign corporation’s authority to do business in New York with consent to jurisdiction of the New York courts for all actions against the corporation. Attorney Michael J. Williams explains this proposed legislation and its implications for businesses and claims in his latest legal alert.

Hurwitz Fine Attorney Eric Andrew offers insight to the New York Law Journal on May 15, 2023, on the revised "Grieving Families Act" slated for legislative review.

After suffering a veto this past January, a revised version of the Grieving Families Act was just introduced to the New York legislature on May 2, 2023.  The Grieving Families Act that would completely overhaul wrongful death claims in New York by permitting recovery for emotional damages and expanding the class of persons who can seek recovery for a fatality.  The recent iteration of the bill seeks to remedy perceived pitfalls from the prior legislation by more clearly defining who can assert a claim for emotional damages, narrowing the expansion of the statute of limitation, and placing limits on its retroactivity.  The new bill however does not implement a cap on damages, nor carve out an exception for medical malpractice claims.  

Hurwitz Fine P.C. had three victories published in The Harmonie’s Group's annual significant cases publication for 2022.

The bill was delivered to the Governor at the very end of 2022, and expired on January 30, 2023, without the Governor signing the bill into law. 

On December 16, 2022, Hurwitz Fine attorneys Scott D. Kagan and V. Christopher Potenza were published in the New York State Bar Association's Torts, Insurance & Compensation Law Section Journal for their comprehensive article, “The Ups and Downs of Elevator and Escalator Litigation.”

In  Nemeth v. Whittaker, Clark, & Daniels, Inc., the New York Court of Appeals overturned a $15 million asbestos verdict, finding plaintiff’s trial proof on causation was insufficient as a matter of law.  This decision took a more stringent approach to assessing the requirements of experts in establishing specific causation between alleged asbestos exposure and the cancer diagnosis.  The First Department recently followed suit in a series of cases, including the vacatur of what was initially a $325 million jury verdict.  No longer will conclusory assertions of experts linking asbestos to mesothelioma and lung cancer provide sufficient proof on specific causation for individual products and exposures.

On February 1, 2021, substantial changes in the form of 29 revisions to the Uniform Civil Rules (22 NYCRR 202.1 et seq.) went into effect.  These new rules were designed to promote judicial efficiency (e.g., moving cases to resolution, cooperation of counsel to avoid unnecessary court intervention, and cleaner paper submissions) and can be broken down into three general categories: (1) Conduct of Counsel/Interaction with the Courts, (2) Motion and Trial Papers/Type and Content, and (3) Discovery Rules and Limitations.

Insurance Coverage Associate Katherine A. Fleming’s Comment was published in the April 2022 edition of the Buffalo Law Review.