Op-ed | The serious injury threshold in New York's proposed budget: What's at stake | amNewYork

"New York follows a pure comparative negligence standard, meaning an injured person who bears some share of responsibility for an accident can still recover damages proportional to the other party's fault. What this means is that if a plaintiff is found to be 50% to blame for an accident, then any recovery that they receive would be reduced by 50% and the same is true for any percentage. If a plaintiff is 99% to blame for the occurrence of an accident, then they would only be able to recover 1% of whatever the total amount of the damages equals."

"The proposal put forth by Governor Hochul seeks to make it so that any plaintiff who is found to be greater than 50% to blame for the occurrence of an accident cannot recover anything at all. The proposals also seek to narrow the definition of what constitutes a serious injury following a car accident."

"The law currently allows a plaintiff who suffers a medically determined injury of a non-permanent nature that prevents them from performing all of their customary daily activities substantially for at least 90 out of the first 180 days following the accident to obtain damages from the defendant who caused such injuries. For example, if a plaintiff is injured and caused to miss three months of work, and this is substantiated by a doctor attesting to that fact, then that plaintiff is allowed to recover damages."

"The basis for the proposed changes rests on the premise that such injuries are difficult to see and, therefore, easier to fabricate. The real motivator behind these proposals comes from insurance companies that mus"

Auto insurance reforms proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul are framed as targeted responses to insurance fraud and bad-faith claims, with the goal of lowering auto insurance premiums for New Yorkers. New York’s pure comparative negligence allows injured plaintiffs to recover damages reduced by their percentage of fault. Under the current rule, a plaintiff 50% responsible recovers 50% of damages, and a plaintiff 99% responsible recovers 1%. The proposal would eliminate recovery entirely for plaintiffs found more than 50% responsible. The proposal also seeks to narrow the definition of serious injury after a car accident, limiting non-permanent medically determined injuries that prevent customary daily activities for at least 90 of the first 180 days.

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