ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Governor Kathy Hochul has again vetoed legislation that would have changed the state's wrongful death statute by allowing families to recover damages for emotional suffering resulting from the death of a loved one.
Hochul refused on Friday to sign the Grieving Family Act for the second time this year. In a veto memo, the Democrat said she supports changing the statute, but that the bill sent to her “had the potential for significant unintended consequences.”
Hochul's concerns, she said, included the possibility of higher insurance premiums for consumers and a risk to the financial well-being of public hospitals and other health care institutions.
New York is one of the few states that only considers economic losses in wrongful death lawsuits. Nearly all states allow family members to be compensated for emotional loss.
The head of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, David Scher, called Hochul's veto “a serious miscarriage of justice.”
The governor's decision “jeopardizes the safety of New Yorkers and enforces a perverse moral standard in current New York law,” Scher said in a statement.
The state's existing wrongful death statute calculates how much families are compensated based on monetary loss or the deceased's potential earning capacity. This means that, for example, the family of a high-earning lawyer can recover more damages than the family of a minimum wage worker.
Hochul wrote that valuing life based on potential merit “is unjust and often reinforces historical inequities and discriminatory practices,” but said she chose to veto the bill because lawmakers failed to adequately address the concerns which she brought up when she ignored an earlier version last January.
“Every human life is valuable and must be recognized as such in our laws and in our legal system,” Hochul wrote. “I proposed compromises that would have supported grieving families and allowed them to recover additional, meaningful compensation, while providing certainty for consumers and businesses.”
The long-sought bill languished for about two decades before landing on Hochul's desk for the first time after last year's passage. She vetoed that version because it would drive up already high insurance premiums and hurt hospitals recovering from the pandemic.
“We tried to clearly address her concerns,” said Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who vetoed both bills. “It is absolutely outrageous that lives in New York are valued differently under our wrongful death statute.”
The latest version was passed by lawmakers in June with strong bipartisan support. Hochul said she did “a lot of deliberation” before deciding to veto it. In her memo, she said she remains open to updating the wrongful death statute.
The legislation would have allowed families filing lawsuits alleging the wrongful death of a loved one to recover, in addition to monetary losses, funeral expenses, certain medical expenses related to the death, and the grief or anxiety incurred as a result , were reimbursed.
___
Maysoon Khan is a staff member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on X, formerly known as Twitter.