What's happening
This bill allows close relatives of a deceased person to seek a declaratory judgment for libel or slander occurring within five years after the death.
Why it matters
Gives immediate family members (spouse, parent, or child) a new legal avenue. to publicly challenge and clear the reputation of a deceased loved one if defamatory statements are made within five years after their death, recognizing the continuing impact such statements can have on surviving relatives.
Requires a formal retraction request before initiating court action,. potentially encouraging the resolution of disputes outside of court and ensuring that defendants have an opportunity to correct or retract defamatory statements before facing legal proceedings.
Allows tape recordings with the deceased to be admitted as evidence,. which could strengthen cases by permitting direct rebuttal or clarification from the decedent, subject to standard evidentiary rules—potentially impacting the way posthumous reputational claims are argued.
Limits the time for bringing such actions to one year after the defamatory statement,. balancing the interests of the deceased’s family with free speech concerns and providing a clear, time-bound framework for these sensitive cases.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Let Families Sue for Defamation
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
779
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sen. BRESLIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law and the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the accrual of a cause of action for a declaratory judgment of libel or slander of a decedent
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 78-a to read as follows:
§ 78-a. Cause of action for a declaratory judgment of libel or slander of a decedent. A cause of action for a declaratory judgment shall accrue to the spouse, parent or child of a decedent as a result of a libel or slander that occurred after, but within five years of the decedent's death. Any such action must be commenced within one year pursuant to section two hundred fifteen of the civil practice law and rules. Prior to the commencement of such action, the plaintiff must request a retraction of such alleged libelous or slanderous statements by a registered or certified letter, return receipt requested from the defendant. In such letter, the plaintiff must set forth, in general terms, their objections to the alleged libelous or slanderous statements. No action may be commenced until thirty days after such letter is received. If the defendant is a newspaper or a radio or television station, a copy of such letter must also be sent to one national wire service and one newspaper of general circulation in the same county as such alleged libelous or slanderous statements were published or spoken.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, tape recordings with the deceased may be admitted as evidence subject to all other evidentiary standards.
§ 2. Section 215 of the civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new subdivision 9 to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05919-01-9
S. 779 2
9. an act for a declaratory judgment of libel or slander of a decedent pursuant to section seventy-eight-a of the civil rights law.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall only apply to a libel or slander made on or after such effective date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the civil rights law and the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the accrual of a cause of action for a declaratory judgment of libel or slander of a decedent
Purpose
To protect the deceased from defamation.
Summary of provisions
This legislation amends the Civil Rights Law to add a new section 78-a which would provide that a cause of action for a declaratory judgment of libel or slander would accrue to the spouse, parent or child of a dece- dent as the result of a libel or slander which occurred after, but with- in five years of the decedent's death. Any such action must be commenced within one year of the date of the alleged libel or slander, pursuant to section 215 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, Prior to the commence- ment of such action, the spouse, parent or child must request a retraction of such statements by registered or certified letter. In such letter, the spouse, parent or child must set forth, in general terms, their objections to such statements, If such statements were made by a newspaper, radio or television station, a copy of such letter must also be sent to one national wire service and one newspaper of general circu- lation in the same county as such statements were published or spoken.
Read the full memo (746 words)
No action may be commenced until thirty days after such letter has been received. If a retraction is issued, the right to a cause of action shall cease. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, tape recordings with the deceased may be admitted as evidence subject to all other evidentiary standards.
Justification
Defamation is an invasion of and protects the interest in reputation and good name. Prosser, Law of Torts, sec. 111 at 737 (4th ed. 1971). These purposes and rationales for this cause of action operate with the same force for a deceased person as they do for a living person; indeed, the deceased's reputation, community standing and good name are the only non-material things that survive him, These purposes and rationales should operate with even more force for the deceased, who is mute to rebut or correct defamatory statements. These were two dramatic instances which pointed out the need for this type of legislation, The first was a story in a major New York City daily newspaper on July 27, 1979, A front page headline and picture indicated that two young men who were murdered were involved in organized crime. The accompanying story clearly makes the point that these murders were nothing more than gang- land activities and that the young men were members of an organized crime family. This allegation was false. The families of these two men were destroyed by that story and wanted to go to court to protect the reputations of their children. They learned that they had no rights and this inability to fight that allegation lead to inseparable harm. At a public hearing office in 1985 on New York's "Son of Sam" law, an indi- vidual came and spoke about problems he and his family were encountering due to the death of their son-in-law at the hands of a notorious murder- er. A book and numerous plays had been written about the life of this criminal and this individual related a story about a play entitled "In the Belly of the Beast" which included characterizations about his son- in-law that were completely outrageous. He was upset to learn that the only things that the world would know about his son-in-law, who was the victim of this murderer, was what his killer had to say. In 1988, there was a serious abuse of our criminal justice institution. We may never know the full story about Tawana Brawley. However, in the aftermath of this affair, the Grand Jury and the Attorney General made several well- considered recommendations for preventing any similar future abuse of our criminal process.
Legislative history
2017/2018 S.2799 Referred to Codes
2015/2016 S.1332 Referred to Codes
2013/2014 S.1154 Referred to Senate Committee on Codes
2011/2012 S.1190 Referred to the Senate Committee on Codes
2009/2010 S.421 Referred to the Senate Committee on Codes
2007/2008 S.724 Referred to the Senate Committee on Codes
2005/2006 S.226 Referred to the Senate Committee on Codes
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to a libel or slander made on or after such effective date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.