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A2099Assembly2019-2020 Session

Hold Cities Liable for Negligence

Official title

“Relates to establishing a municipality's liability for negligence when any contact is made by anyone on behalf of an injured party to a municipal representative”

Sponsor N. Nick PerryAD-58+3 co-sponsorsAffects Local Government
Status
In Assembly Committee
Local Governments
Impact
7/10
Significant
Passage
0%

Bill progress

Step 2 of 7

In committee · Local Governments

What's happening

Ariel's Law makes municipalities liable for negligence if anyone contacts them about an emergency injury, regardless of the victim's awareness.

Why it matters

  1. Expands municipal liability. Municipalities could now be held liable for negligence whenever anyone—not just the victim—contacts them about an emergency injury, making it easier for injured parties (or their families) to pursue legal claims.

  2. Removes the need for victim awareness. The law clarifies that the injured person does not need to know about the contact made on their behalf, making it more straightforward for third parties (like bystanders or family members) to trigger municipal responsibility.

  3. Lowers the barrier to legal action. By establishing a “special relationship” automatically when a report is made, the law eliminates a common hurdle in negligence lawsuits—proving the municipality had a duty to the injured person—potentially leading to more successful claims and incentivizing better emergency response.

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Who cares

Headline styles

Hold Cities Liable for Negligence

Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.

Sponsors

Primary sponsor
N. Nick Perry

Assembly Member · Assembly District 58

2 Multi-sponsors

History

  1. Referred to local governments
  2. Referred to local governments

Full text

1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗

STATE OF NEW YORK

2099

2019-2020 Regular Sessions

IN ASSEMBLY

January 22, 2019

Introduced by M. of A. PERRY, GOTTFRIED, ORTIZ, PICHARDO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. RIVERA, SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Local Governments

AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to municipal liability for negligence

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Ariel's Law".

§ 2. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new section 50-o to read as follows:

§ 50-o. Municipal liability or negligence if a witness contacts the municipality. In an emergency situation where an injured party is unable to act on his or her behalf, a special relationship with a municipality shall be established for the purposes of a negligence claim when any individual, regardless of his or her relationship to the individual, places a call or any other form of contact to a representative of the municipality pertaining to the occurrence of the injury. It shall not be required that the injured party be aware or have knowledge at the time that the call or contact was made on his or her behalf.

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD07199-01-9

Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.

Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.