Kenneth S. Feraru Personal Injury Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Changes in Accident Litigation in NY

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 by Kenneth S. Feraru

Tort Reform in NY

A civil wrong that causes someone to be injured is called a tort. The wrong can be willful or negligent and causes harm. Torts are addressed differently than a criminal defense cases. To prove a tort case, the criminal defense attorney in Long Island will need to show the other party was negligent resulting in injury.

Here is an example...A man is smoking outside his million dollar home in Garden City, Long Island. The neighborhood is lined with million dollar homes. He carelessly throws a match into a pile of mulch in his flowerbed, fully knowing that mulch is wood and there hasn't been rain, but too lazy to walk to the driveway or street to extinguish his cigarette.

The mulch quickly catches on fire and rapidly jumps to the house and a housekeeper cleaning his home is seriously injured. Although the man didn't mean for that to happen, the housekeeper's injury allowed her to sue the homeowner for pain and suffering, lost future wages from not being able to work and medical expenses.

Tort Reform is a hot debate in NY. Recently an effort led by the New York State Trial Lawyers' Association sought to change the landscape of NY litigation was published by the organization NY Tort Reform Now:

  • raising the amount of contingency fees attorneys receive from a settlement, thereby lowering the amount of the award to the client
  • modifying laws affecting personal injury cases
  • lengthen the statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases, thereby discouraging medical professionals from working in NY hospitals or moving their practice to a NY location

The future of tort reform in New York is uncertain. Hopefully, lawmakers will consider all sides of this issue before any laws are changed.

Article contributed by the Long Island accident attorney
Kenneth S. Feraru
200 Old Country Rd, Suite 2 South
Mineola, NY 11501
(516) 535-3333

Posted at 11:22 AM
Topic: Personal Injury
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