News & Updates....

Lobby Day 2008

Nothing just happens in politics. If something happens you can be sure it was planned that way.
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Join the fight to protect the civil justice system by meeting with your elected officials in Albany. NYSTLA's 2008 Civil Justice Lobby Day will counter the corporate attempt to take away your clients' rights. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Anna Adler at NYSTLA at 212-349-5890 or aadler@nystla.org.

Schedule:

Monday, May 19
5:00 p.m. Legislative Reception - The Hart Lounge, The Egg
7:00 p.m. Dinner and Membership Meeting - The Hart Lounge, The Egg

Tuesday, May 20
7:30 a.m. Lobby training breakfast (Free CLE) - Crowne Plaza Hotel
9:00 a.m. Legislative meetings start - Legislative Office Building and Capitol Building
3:00 p.m. Last meeting scheduled

To reserve your room at the Albany Crowne Plaza, call 518-462-6611 and ask for the Trial Lawyers Association rooms.


Law Day 2008 a Success!

NYSTLA's annual Law Day Dinner took place Monday, April 28th at the Hilton New York, honoring U.S. Congressman Charles B. Rangel. More than 1,200 members and judicial guests joined us for a celebration of our civil justice system. Pictures will be available shortly.


Medical Malpractice Task Force Update

NYSTLA was on guard to set the record straight at the October 15th hearing of the New York State Task Force on Medical Malpractice Insurance. Using anecdotes and self-serving surveys, medical special interests tried to argue that malpractice premiums restrict New Yorkers' access to health care. In reality, New York has a healthy supply of doctors; the state ranks second in the nation in physicians per capita.

President Jeff S. Korek stood at the podium to challenge the questionable data presented by physician groups. Immediately after the meeting, he handed Insurance Commissioner Eric R. Dinallo a detailed letter of rebuttal - demonstrating NYSTLA's capacity for accurate, powerful, and effective rapid response. To read the letter to Dinallo and Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, click here.

The Case Against Caps

Earlier this month, Newsday reported the story of Darrie Eason, a 35-year-old mother who had an unnecessary double mastectomy because of an error by a medical laboratory. Following the article – and after an interview with Eason's attorney, Steven Pegalis – the newspaper took a firm editorial position against caps on damages for pain and suffering. It began:

"Darrie Eason is a penetrating example of what's wrong with proposals to cap damages for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases. The high cost of malpractice insurance is a problem. But adding insult to patients' injuries by arbitrarily limiting jury awards is not the answer..."

To read the Newsday editorial in its entirety, click here.

Vicarious Excitement!

It was no accident that a record high of 70 members and guests steered into NYSTLA headquarters on October 4th for a No-Fault/Auto seminar. Winning lawyer Ira Leesfield discussed a federal court in Florida that could pave the way for successful lawsuits against care rental and leasing companies in New York. Other speakers included Andre Mura, a constitutional expert on vicarious liability, and Brian Isaac, noted appellate attorney and NYSTLA Amicus Committee Chair. The event was sponsored by our Automobile Litigation & No-Fault Committee. To view pictures from this event, please click here.

Stephanie Mencimer To Speak

Journalist Stephanie Mencimer will be the featured speaker at the NYSTLA General Membership and Board of Directors meeting on Monday, November 5th. A contributing editor of The Washington Monthly, Mencimer is author of "Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue." The meeting starts at 6 p.m. All NYSTLA members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Please RSVP Andrea Hunt at ahunt@nystla.org.

Governor Spitzer Signs Bill to Help Clients' Rights

NYSTLA is pleased to announce that Governor Spitzer has signed the Kolnacki legislation (S.4878-B DeFrancisco/A.8692-C Weinstein).

This bill will help rectify an unfortunate barrier for many of our clients by amending the Court of Claims Act to provide that a claim to recover damages for personal injury, wrongful death, or medical, dental or podiatric malpractice would be exempt from the requirement to state the total sum of monetary relief sought in the notice of claim. Failure to state total damages sought in these claims would not be considered a jurisdictional defect and therefore not subject to dismissal by the court.


Installation of NYSTLA's 40th President



Click here to see photo gallery

NYSTLA celebrated the installation of its 40th President on June 20, 2007 at the Chelsea Piers Lighthouse. President Jeff S. Korek and our new officers and directors were sworn in by the Hon. Gabriel M. Krausman in front of more than 600 NYSTLA members and friends. The remarks of honored guest Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and AAJ President Lewis S. "Mike" Eidson were a highlight of the evening. After giving thanks to Immediate Past President Joseph P. Awad for his leadership and untiring efforts, President Korek reaffirmed his commitment to a judicial pay increase and the modernization of our state's wrongful death law. He then presented the 2007 Civil Justice Award to Perry Weitz in recognition of his pioneering role in protecting victims' rights.

NYSTLA's Annual Lobby Day May 14th and 15th



Our Annual Lobby Day was a great success with 112 NYSTLA members converging on Albany from all over the State to lobby the State Legislature on issues necessary to enhance and protect the civil justice system and the trial bar, including: the Grieving Families bill ("Zachary's Law"); the Judicial Pay Increase bill; the No Prejudice/Declaratory Judgment bill; the Prejudgment Interest bill; the Collateral Source/Subrogation bill; the Medical Courts bill; and the Scaffold Law bill. NYSTLA's Officers, Members, Staff, and Government Affairs Representatives visited close to 170 legislators and senior legislative staff and made significant progress in educating and advocating before the State Legislature as to our priorities. Click here to see photo gallery

Pres. Clinton is Keynote Speaker at NYSTLA's Law Day 2007



NYSTLA's Law Day 2007 at the Grand Hyatt on May 9, 2007 drew the largest crowd in our history. Over 1600 people came to hear Pres. Bill Clinton offer the keynote speech, to honor new Court of Appeals Judges Theodore T. Jones, Jr. and Eugene F. Pigott, Jr., to support Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye's campaign for judicial pay raises, and to share in celebrating Pres. Joseph P. Awad's year of tremendous energy and productivity at NYSTLA. Click here to see photo gallery.

Pres. Clinton presented a masterful analysis of the urgent steps we each must take to avert impending calamities in natural resources, disease, global warming, and terrorism, but set forth the ways in which we can protect the world for our children and grandchildren by acting on the basis of human empathy in an intimately interconnected global society. Special thanks must go to NYSTLA's President-Elect Jeff S. Korek and Past President Jeffrey A. Lichtman for their hard work in planning and organizing the event, the NYSTLA staff for their efforts, and the many members who contributed generously and enthusiastically to make this day a resounding success.

NYSTLA President Joseph P. Awad participated in a panel discussion at the 20th Annual New York State Assembly-Senate Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force Conference on Saturday, April 28th.

NYSTLA President Joseph P. Awad participated in a panel discussion on Judicial Diversity at the 20th Annual New York State Assembly-Senate Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force Conference on Saturday, April 28th. The workshop was hosted by Conference Chair, Assemblymember Peter M. Rivera and moderated by State Senator Bill Perkins. Other panelists were John E. Higgins, President, Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association; Helena Heath-Roland Judge, Albany City Court and Co-Chair, Diversity Committee for Women's Bar Association of the State of New York; and Michael J.D. Sweeny, Counsel to the Feerick Commission Report.



President Awad is pictured here with Special Guest Doris Ling-Cohen, who spoke about her experiences as the first Asian-American New York State Supreme Court Judge.


NYSTLA's Campaign Supporting Judicial Pay Raises


NYSTLA's Position on "Attorney Certification"


New York State Trial Lawyers Association Commend Revisions in Attorney Advertising Disciplinary Rules
NYSTLA President Joseph P. Awad commended the Presiding Justices of the Appellate Division for adopting many of his organization's recommendations in response to the earlier proposed version of the new disciplinary rules governing lawyer advertising. He said, "We are very pleased that the Presiding Justices incorporated the suggestions we advanced in the public interest, and in many instances on the initiative of public citizens whose testimony we elicited." Read more...


Attorney Advertising
 



President Joseph P. Awad testified before the Assembly Judiciary Committee in support of publicly-financed open primaries to select candidates for New York State Supreme Court. Should the Legislature fail to agree to provide public financing, he said, judicial election may depend on which candidate can enlist the "deeper pocket" for support, a result not encouraging for justice or for democracy. Therefore, as an alternative, President Awad explained some of the reforms proposed by the Feerick Commission to transform the current judicial nominating convention system into a process that would become both more democratic and more deliberative. Mr. Awad added a renewed plea for increased pay for the New York State judiciary.


December 14, 2006
NYSTLA's Judicial Screening Committee, co-chaired by Past President Lenore Kramer and by Western New York Affiliate member Catherine Beltz-Foley, interviewed candidates for the Court of Appeals position to be left vacant by the expiration of the term of Associate Judge Albert Rosenblatt. The Committee found all seven of the judges nominated by the Commission on Judicial Nomination to be "qualified." It gave its "recommended" rating to Justices Richard T. Andrias, Steven W. Fisher, and Thomas E. Mercure; and its "highly recommended" rating to George Carpinello, Esq., Judge Theodore T. Jones, Jr., Judge Juanita Bing Newton, and Judge James A. Yates.


NYSTLA President Joseph P. Awad testifies on the need for greater diversity on the appellate bench.
Read more...


After interviewing the candidates put forth by the Commission on Judicial Nomination for the vacancy on the Court of Appeals, NYSTLA makes its recommendation.


 



Regional Judges Honored by NYSTLA Affiliates
The New York State Trial Lawyers Western Region Affiliate and Central New York Region Affiliate recently held their Second Annual Judicial Recognition Receptions in Buffalo and Syracuse. Both receptions were a huge success with many trial attorneys and members of the judiciary in attendance.
Western Region press release and photos.


(from left to right) Honorable Frederick Marshall, NYSTLA President Joseph P. Awad, Honorable Salvatore Martoche, and Honorable Richard Kloch, Sr.


Honorable Kevin Dillon (left) and Western Region Affiliate President Michael Scinta (right)


Central New York Region Affiliate President Michael Kenny (left), Honorable Nicholas V. Midey, Jr. (center), and NYSTLA President-Elect Jeff Korek



An Open Letter from NYSTLA's Presidents to All Members
Dear Colleagues,
Because the current administration in Washington - both in Congress and in the White House - poses increasingly frequent critical threats to the civil justice system, NYSTLA has taken on a correspondingly increased role in our national organization, until now known as ATLA, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Read more...


Disproving the Myth of Frivolous Lawsuits
NYSTLA Member Jeffrey B. Bloom recently wrote an eloquent piece for the National Law Journal on July 3, 2006, dispelling the oft-repeated, though never-substantiated, claims of America's "litigation crisis". Using a May 11, 2006, Harvard study - which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine - Mr. Bloom catalogues the study's findings, and shows how this flies in the face of the daily rhetoric being served to the American public by the Tort Deformers. Please take a moment to read this piece, and familiarize yourself with the facts - clearly in support of our role as consumer attorneys fighting for our clients' access to justice.


Important website features for NYSTLA Members:
NYSTLA reviews hundreds of bills over the course of a legislative session, about 800 of which require careful analysis and about 200 necessitate our weighing in with a memo in support or opposition. The memos are distributed each time a bill of interest or concern appears on a committee agenda or makes it to the floor of the Assembly or Senate. On our Legislative Action Center we have listed many of the bills with which we have the most interest and involvement, with links to the bill language and to our memos. Many of the bills listed represent a larger category of bills that we oppose or support. For example, we have not listed all of the many bills that we strongly oppose because they offer certain groups or individuals immunity from liability for negligent acts. If you would like more information about particular legislative initiatives, please contact NYSTLA's Counsel, Jim Walsh.

Click here for the Court of Appeals' new rules, effective September 1, 2005.