NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - Exceptionally large jury awards exceeding $10 million are on the rise.
That's according to New York's Nuisance Nuclear Verdicts, a new report from the New York Civil Justice Institute which found that California leads the nation followed by Florida and New York for these so-called "nuclear" verdicts handed down between 2018 and 2019.
"New York’s position as the lawsuit capital of the world is well-known, and the recent increase in nuclear verdicts reflects this trend,” said Tom Stebbins, executive director of Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York (LRANY).
“The trial bar has managed to line their pockets with hefty fees on absurdly inflated jury awards, to the detriment of doctors, businesses, and local governments across the state. It is long past time for New York to rein in nuclear verdicts by better regulating the tactics of plaintiffs’ attorneys and imposing a cap on damages.”
Nuclear verdicts are commonly associated with the trucking industry. The average verdict for cases involving trucking companies increased by 967% between 2010 and 2018, according to the study.
“If these trends continue, many trucking companies will be unable to operate, leaving their employees out of work and remaining companies struggling to keep up with demand, compounding the supply chain issues already plaguing businesses and consumers,” said Kendra Hems, president of the Trucking Association of New York.
Assembly Bill 6770 would expand the types of damages recoverable in wrongful death lawsuits, which Stebbins believes will contribute to an increase in the number of nuclear verdicts awarded in New York state.
“We believe that this is a terrible time to make things worse for doctors and hospitals, as well as for businesses that are trying to recover from the pandemic,” Stebbins told Legal Newsline. “New York already leads the way in the highest per capita medical liability payments in the country and this would dramatically make that worse.”
The study further found that beginning in 2016, the average verdict severity for medical liability rose by 50% to an average of $23 million.
“The New York State Trial Lawyers Association has long been a powerful political force in Albany, but usually when the trial lawyers get their way and get more money for their pockets, it comes out of the pockets of the rest of the economy and, at the end of the line, comes out of the pockets of consumers and patients,” Stebbins added.