NY Governor vetoes changes to wrongful death law
New York’s governor has vetoed a bill that would have allowed wrongful death lawsuits to include claims for emotional damage, a change that could have led to much bigger payouts for fatal accidents and deadly medical errors.
The bill, which had strong bipartisan support when it passed the Legislature last year, would have brought New York into line with a majority of other states that allow courts to consider emotional pain when calculating how much a lost life was worth.
Under current state law, the amount someone can get in a wrongful death lawsuit in New York is largely determined by the potential future income of the person who died — a cold calculation that values the life of a person with a high-paying job far more than someone making minimum wage.