What's happening
This bill prohibits courts from awarding punitive damages in civil lawsuits related to asbestos exposure in New York.
Why it matters
Limits financial consequences for companies. By banning punitive damages in asbestos-related lawsuits, the bill reduces the potential financial penalties for companies found liable for exposing individuals to asbestos, potentially lowering their overall risk and costs.
May impact incentives for corporate safety. Without the threat of punitive damages, companies may face less deterrence against negligent or reckless behavior regarding asbestos, which could influence their decisions about workplace safety and disclosure.
Affects compensation for victims. Plaintiffs harmed by asbestos exposure will still be able to seek compensatory damages for actual losses, but they will no longer be able to pursue additional punitive awards intended to punish particularly egregious conduct.
Shifts legal landscape in New York. The bill makes New York’s approach to asbestos litigation notably different from other states where punitive damages may still be available, potentially influencing where future asbestos cases are filed or how they are litigated.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Asbestos Punitive Damages
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 42
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to judiciary
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7758
IN SENATE
February 20, 2018
Introduced by Sen. BONACIC -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT the amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to punitive damages in asbestos litigation
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new article 99 to read as follows:
ARTICLE 99
PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN ASBESTOS LITIGATION Section 9901. Punitive damages in asbestos litigation.
§ 9901. Punitive damages in asbestos litigation. Punitive damages may not be awarded in any civil action alleging damages arising out of exposure to asbestos.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law, and shall apply to all actions commenced on or after such date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14747-01-8
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act the amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to punitive damages in asbestos litigation
Purpose
To prohibit the award of punitive damages in any civil action alleging damages arising out of exposure to asbestos.
Summary and justification
In 1972, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued permanent standards regulating occupational exposure to asbestos in the United States. The OSHA regulations established stand- ards for exposure to asbestos dust and established requirements that asbestos-containing products be labelled with warnings. With OSHA's strict regulation of asbestos, commercial use of asbestos and asbestos- containing products in the United States largely ceased by the mid-1980s. Civil litigation arising out of the exposure to asbestos has been ongoing in the United States since the mid-1970s. Now entering its fourth decade, the asbestos litigation is the longest running mass tort in United States history.
From the 1970s through the early 2000s the primary defendants in the asbestos litigation were those companies most responsible for the manu- facturing and production of asbestos in the United States. By the mid-2000s, due to their liabilities arising out of the asbestos liti- gation, over 100 of these asbestos manufacturers and producers had filed for and received protection under the federal bankruptcy code. These companies that received federal bankruptcy protection can no longer be sued in the civil tort system.
Since the mid-2000s, due to these bankruptcies, the asbestos litigation has expanded to include companies that were previously considered as being peripherally involved with asbestos. Now, many small to medium sized companies with limited connection to asbestos have been brought into the asbestos litigation.
To date, over 10,000 of these peripheral companies have been named in the asbestos litigation. The purpose of punitive damages generally are to punish wrongdoers and to deter those actors and others from future misconduct. See State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408416 (2003); John M. Leventhal & Thomas A Dickerson, Punitive Damages: Public Wrong or Egregious Conduct? A Survey of New York Law, 76 Albany L. Rev. 961, 964 (2013); "To charge today's defendants in the asbestos litigation for wrongs committed twenty or thirty years before serves no corrective purpose. In many cases, the wrong was committed by a prede- cessor company, not even the company now charged." Helen E. Freedman, Selected Ethical Issues in Asbestos Litigation, 37 Sw. U.L. Rev. 511,527 (2008);
The payment of punitive damages in asbestos litigation will "only deplete resources that are better used to compensate injured parties." Id.; With the commercial use of asbestos in the United States having ceased decades ago, there is no ongoing or future misconduct on the part of defendants in the asbestos litigation that punitive damages will serve to deter.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law, and shall apply to all actions commenced on or after such date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.