{"id":165329,"date":"2026-03-16T19:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/165329\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T19:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T19:37:08","slug":"deep-pocketed-ny-trial-lawyers-on-crash-course-with-hochul-over-car-insurance-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/165329\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep-pocketed NY trial lawyers on crash course with Hochul over car-insurance reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trial lawyers\u2019 lobby is one of the most deep-pocketed and influential groups targeting Albany \u2014 putting it on a crash course<\/a> with Gov. Kathy Hochul over her push to crack down on runaway litigation, a new report revealed.<\/p>\n

The big-gun special-interest lobby includes a former-college-roommate lawyer and longtime associate of state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and the son of a state senator from Queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cGov. Kathy Hochul is fighting fraud and excessive lawsuits to make auto insurance more affordable for New York drivers \u2014 and this report offers a peek behind the curtain at the pro-litigation influence machine working to maintain the high-cost status quo,\u201d said Tom Stebbins, executive director of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, which did the study.<\/p>\n

Governor Kathy Hochul holds a press conference at 1 Ward Island where she announced legislation designed to bring down the cost of car insurance. LP Media<\/p>\n

Trial lawyers last year spent more than $1 million on political-campaign contributions and $1.579 million on lobbying.<\/p>\n

The New York State Trial Lawyers Association\u2019s lobbying stable includes Heastie buddy Patrick Jenkins, whose firm, Patrick Jenkins & Associates, received $528,000 from the trial lawyers group last year.<\/p>\n

Ken Ridett of Ridett Associates and a former counsel to Senate Republicans was paid $526,000 by the same group.<\/p>\n

Another lawyer advocacy group, the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers, paid Parkside group lobbyist Evan Stavisky \u2014 the son of Queens Democratic state Sen. Toby Stavisky \u2014 $139,500 last year.<\/p>\n

The larger of the two lobbying groups, NYSTLA PAC, generally contributed $168,600 to Assembly campaign committee accounts and $189,600 to Senate campaign committee accounts<\/p>\n

It also specifically doled out $50,000 to PACs overseen by the leaders of the legislature: $25,000 to Heastie and $25,000 to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.<\/p>\n

Part of Hochul\u2019s auto-insurance reform plan includes putting a cap on damages involving potential pain and suffering for drivers at fault or engaging in criminal behavior. LP Media<\/p>\n

\u201cTrial lawyers remain influential in the Legislature through their targeted approach to key lawmakers and lobbying expenses,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n

\u201cNotably, trial lawyers contributed heavily to Governor Kathy Hochul in her 2022 election campaign but have since dropped off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of Hochul\u2019s auto-insurance reform plan includes putting a cap on damages involving potential pain and suffering for drivers at fault or engaging in criminal behavior at the time of an incident.<\/p>\n

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Her proposal would similarly target uninsured motorists who have violated state financial responsibility laws, individuals convicted of driving while impaired and those committing a felony or fleeing the scene.<\/p>\n

Additionally, she is proposing legislation to ensure prosecutors can seek criminal penalties against any individual responsible for organizing a staged accident, not just the person behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

Hochul included her car-insurance savings plan in her executive budget.<\/p>\n

Superintendent of State Police Steven James at a press conference. LP Media<\/p>\n

But the Democratic-led Assembly and Senate did not include it in their recently released fiscal plan.<\/p>\n

Trial lawyers claimed Hochul\u2019s plan limits the rights of injured residents to sue and lets insurance firms off the hook.<\/p>\n

New York Trial Lawyers Association President Andrew Finkelstein disputed that insurance companies will lower premiums if \u201ccrash victims get less care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul said her plan, similar to a Florida law, could slash insurance premiums for New York drivers by 15% to 20%. LP Media<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory shows the opposite. Insurers cut costs, pocket the savings, and premiums never go down,\u201d Finkelstein said after Hochul introduced the plan, calling it \u201cNothing more than a Victim Tax.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hochul has said her plan, similar to a Florida law, could slash insurance premiums for New York drivers by 15% to 20%.<\/p>\n

New Yorkers pay an average of $4,000 per year for car insurance \u2014 a whopping $1,500 more than the national average.<\/p>\n

Hochul has powerful interests supporting her plan as well.<\/p>\n

A group bankrolled in part by Uber and Citizens for Affordable Rates, or CAR, has spent $8 million this year \u2014 $6 million on digital ads and $2 million on digital ads \u2014 touting her plan, Board of Elections records show, according to StreetsBlog NYC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Insurance firms or their reps also have contributed more than $14,000 to Hochul\u2019s campaign and the state Democratic committee in the past few year, including: Sy Sternberg, former chairman and CEO of New York Life Insurance Company; Travelers; Allstate; Zurich; Chubb; Cigna; New York Insurance Association Inc. PAC; Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, or MetLife; American Property Casualty Insurance Association, or APCIA, and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.<\/p>\n

Insurers backing Hochul\u2019s reforms also have lobbyists in Albany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial lawyers\u2019 lobby is one of the most deep-pocketed and influential groups targeting Albany \u2014 putting it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47848,396,9340,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,58],"class_list":["post-165329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-car-insurance","tag-fraud","tag-lawyers","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}