(The Center Square) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed the latest version of a bill to expand the state’s wrongful death statute, marking the third time she has rejected the proposed legislation.
Hochul used her veto pen on Friday to reject the revised Grieving Families Act, which called for updating New York’s nearly 180-year-old law governing wrongful deaths to allow families to seek emotional damages. Under the current law, they can only sue for financial damages, like lost wages.
“While well intentioned, these changes would likely have resulted in higher costs to patients and consumers, as well as other unintended consequences,” Hochul wrote in her veto message. “For the third year in a row the legislature has passed a bill that continues to pose significant risks to consumers, without many of the changes I expressed openness to in previous rounds of negotiations.”
New York State Trial Lawyers Association President Victoria Wickman blasted the move, calling Hochul’s veto “a cruel reminder” that she “has chosen to prioritize protecting big business over standing with grieving New Yorkers.”
“How many more families have to suffer without justice before this governor takes action?” Wickman said in a statement. “We are in the midst of an infant and maternal mortality epidemic, yet the governor continues to ignore the urgent need for accountability in health care.”
But Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, praised Hochul for rejecting the bill, saying she “demonstrated true leadership by vetoing this deeply flawed legislation.”
“Despite relentless pressure from the trial lawyer lobby and their attempts to exploit tragedy for profit, the governor stood firm, prioritizing the well-being of New York’s families, healthcare system, educators, and small businesses over law firm profits,” he said in a statement. “It’s time to end these one-sided, radical proposals and bring all stakeholders to the table to craft legislation that works for everyone.”
New York’s current wrongful death law, which has been on the books since 1847, doesn’t allow for non-economic losses in such civil lawsuits. It doesn’t permit recovery for pain and suffering, mental anguish or loss of companionship for surviving family members. It also restricts civil awards to pecuniary or tangible monetary damages.
Critics argue that the antiquated law prevents grief-stricken families from recovering damages for their emotional suffering, including the survivors of 10 victims killed in a 2022 mass shooting at the Buffalo supermarket.
Hochul has vetoed similar proposals to expand the law, most recently in January, when she rejected a version of the current legislation.
Backers of the latest plan amended the bill to scale back the list of family members eligible to sue, limiting it to spouses or domestic partners of the deceased. The Assembly and Senate passed it in June, but differences between the bills needed to be worked out before it landed on Hochul’s desk.
However, critics have pushed back hard against proposals to expand the law, arguing that it would impose unfair financial burdens on businesses, hospitals and the insurance industry. A recent report by the consulting firm Milliman found that the latest bill would result in an estimated 40% increase in medical professional liability premiums.
New York state’s legal system is consistently ranked among the worst in the nation in the American Tort Reform Association’s annual “Judicial Hellholes” reports. New York, New York City or Albany have been included among those named “Judicial Hellholes” for nearly 15 years, according to the association.
