News that a Bronx jury awarded $50 million to a guy clipped by a city garbage truck as he was crossing the street while on his cellphone is just the latest sign of how out-of-whack New York\u2019s liability laws are \u2014 and they\u2019re about to get even worse unless Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoes a pack of lawsuit-boosting bills headed for her desk.<\/p>\n
This legal regime is actually a huge affordability issue: Juries often figure the insurance company can afford to pay big, but insurers then just raise their rates so that everyone winds up covering the costs of insane payouts.<\/p>\n
It may well be that Darcy Bottex deserves compensation<\/a> for that 2021 garbage truck incident: He says it inflicted injuries that have left him unable to work ever since.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n But $50 million is nuts, especially since he shares at least some blame: Gabbing on your phone as you cross a major avenue like Bruckner Boulevard is pretty foolish.<\/p>\n Yet the Legislature, instead of looking at reforms to cap damages in a case like this, has sent the gov several bills that encourage frivolous lawsuits and fraud.<\/p>\n \t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPost Editorial Board<\/p>\n A report from the American Tort Reform Association last year lists NYC as the nation\u2019s 2nd-worst \u201cjudicial hellhole,\u201d with $89 billion a year<\/a> in excessive litigation costs to taxpayers and companies .<\/a><\/p>\n The Partnership for New York City breaks it down further: Insurance premiums in New York average 15% higher than the rest of the country; health-insurance premiums are 12% higher, auto coverage a whopping 52% higher.<\/p>\n Democratic state Sens. Jamaal Bailey, Brian Kavanagh and James Skoufis are holding a public hearing this week to \u201cinvestigate\u201d these high insurance costs, when the cause is abundantly clear: Higher risks of being sued for insane damages means higher insurance premiums across the board.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n And Skoufis actually wants to make it worse: His Senate Bill S5170, would allow a plaintiff to recover damages directly from a third-party defendant, meaning people who did little or nothing wrong are at elevated risk of having to make good on someone else\u2019s wrongdoing. <\/p>\n The other bills laws slated to hit Hochul\u2019s desk before the end of the year are just as poisonous, among them:<\/p>\n\n
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