Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

In New York, when a person dies due to another party’s wrongful actions, the law provides for two distinct types of legal claims: (1) a wrongful death claim and (2) a conscious pain and suffering claim, also known as a survivor’s or survivorship claim. These two claims each seek wholly different damages. Both the wrongful death and the conscious pain and suffering claims are brought by the administrator of the estate or executor of the Will, and for both claims you must prove that the death was caused by another party’s negligence, recklessness, or intentional wrongful act.  But here is how they differ:

Wrongful Death Claim

The Statute of Limitations: It is usually (but not always!) two years from the date of death.  

At midnight on January 30 a clock ran out. That was the deadline by which our Governor had to sign the Grieving Families Act bill – S74A into law.  Her failure to sign the bill into law is what is known as a “pocket veto”. The Governor’s deliberate failure to put pen to paper by that date and time was the death knell to the bill, which both the New York Senate and Assembly had overwhelmingly supported.

This was a tragedy for those in New York who care about civil justice. Why?

Let’s start by explaining what the now-expired “Grieving Families Act” was:  A proposed law to allow recovery for “emotional loss” (grief) for families who loved ones die because of someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing. The law would have rewritten one of the most unfair laws New York has ever known.  Most other States in the Union allow families of those who are killed through wrongdoing seek compensation for their emotional loss. New York’s law’s antiquated Wrongful Death law (N.Y. Est. Powers & Trusts Law § 5-4.1), which was written way back in 1847, does not.  The Grieving Families Act was meant to right this wrong. Instead, the Governor let the bill die.

New York, unlike many other States, does not allow the family of a wrongful death victim to recover for emotional grief. All they can really recover is “economic loss” (medical and funeral bills, loss of financial support, etc.) and compensation for the decedent’s “conscious pain and suffering”. In many cases, however, the death is so quick there is no real “pain and suffering”, only a short period of fear or anxiety about the impending death.

No matter how short, however, any New York personal injury lawyer worth his or her salt won’t underestimate the value of pre-death terror compensation. In terms of dollar-per-second of suffering, no claim is worth more. Why? Because the jury wants to do something for the family and, if the death came on quickly, there is often no other way to compensate the family.

For example, let’s say your loved one was hit head on my a negligent truck driver who crossed over into her lane. The force of the collision instantly killed her. The jury thus won’t be able to give you – the family – anything for her “pain and suffering” after the collision. But it is pretty obvious that, at least for a few seconds before impact, your loved one “saw death coming” and was probably very fearful of what was about to transpire. In New York, those few seconds of anguish are compensable as “pre-impact terror”. Most juries will make those few seconds of anguish very expensive for the negligent truck driver’s insurance.

There has been much ado recently about a Nascar incident in my neck of the woods (Ontario County, New York State) in which Tony Stewart struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. (See video of the incident above). An Ontario County Grand Jury recently declined to indict Steward. The Grand Jury determined that there was simply no probable cause to believe that Stewart intentionally or even recklessly killed Ward. Ontario County District Attorney Tantillo also announced for the first time that Kevin Ward had marijuana in his blood at a level that would have “impaired judgment”.

So Stewart has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing. But can Ward’s family nevertheless sue him for damages for wrongful death? Such a lawsuit might be in the works. Ward’s mother was recently quoted as saying that Stewart “intentionally tried to intimidate Kevin by accelerating and sliding his car towards him” and that she was considering “other remedies” since no criminal charges will be filed.

Remember the OJ trial? The jury acquitted him of murder (“if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”) but then the family of Nicole Simpson sued OJ for wrongful death and got a huge verdict. Can the same thing happen here?