Silverman: Nuclear Verdict Risk Grows As States Expand Wrongful Death Liability
Over the past year, legislators in at least 11 states have introduced bills that would expand wrongful death liability, and five of these states passed such legislation. The multi-state effort suggests that wrongful death liability expansion is a new high-level priority of the plaintiffs’ bar that is likely to spread, according to a legal opinion letter written by Shook Partner Cary Silverman.
Silverman wrote a legal opinion letter for the Washington Legal Foundation titled “Nuclear Verdict Risk Grows As States Expand Wrongful Death Liability,” discussing the trend, which includes pending legislation in New York that would allow several forms of unquantifiable noneconomic damages.
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed an earlier version of the bill, saying that it represented an “extraordinary departure” from the state’s wrongful death jurisprudence and may result in significant unintended consequences, Silverman wrote.
“These consequences would include confusing judges, juries and litigants with overlapping categories of damages, requiring courts and claimants to grapple with competing claims asserted by family members, worsening the ‘already-high insurance burdens on families and small businesses, and further straining already-distressed healthcare workers and institutions,’” he said.
