{"id":284228,"date":"2026-07-01T22:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/284228\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T22:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T22:34:16","slug":"nys-trial-lawyers-association-president-addresses-hochuls-auto-insurance-reforms-during-annual-gala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/284228\/","title":{"rendered":"NYS Trial Lawyers Association president addresses Hochul\u2019s auto insurance reforms during annual gala"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York State Trial Lawyers Association\u2019s (NYSTLA) president used the group\u2019s annual gala on Tuesday night to address Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s auto insurance reforms,<\/a> which were included in the state budget \u2014 arguing that they limit justice, encroach on people\u2019s rights, and threaten the independence of the civil courts system.<\/p>\n

The reforms<\/a> in question narrow<\/a> the definition of what constitutes a \u201cserious injury\u201d after a vehicle crash \u2014 a necessary requirement for a crash victim to be able to sue for damages \u2014 while also capping payouts for pain and suffering at $100,000; and altering the way injury compensation is determined, holding that if an injured person is over 50% responsible for the crash, they can\u2019t recover anything. Hochul said this is intended to make it harder for \u201cbad actors\u201d to sue in bad faith and scam insurance carriers out of money, and that it will trickle down to mean lower insurance rate payments for everyday drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those claims have faced intense criticism<\/a> for months, as attorneys and victim advocates say the reforms will make it harder for injured people to recover compensation after crashes that were not their fault. Critics like NYSTLA President Andrew Finkelstein further say they are not convinced the car insurance companies will even pass on the savings to consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only outcome of the purported reform is to narrow the courthouse doors, limit recoveries for the injured, create greater immunity for wrongdoers, and create a system that becomes less accessible to the people it was built to protect,\u201d Finkelstein said at the June 30 gala. \u201cThis civil justice system should not be rewritten as a budget line item. The rights of the injured should not and must not be considered a bargaining chip.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finkelstein accused Hochul of being swayed by powerful, well-financed auto insurance and rideshare lobbyists (Uber alone poured $10 million into pushing the budget bill) over the interests of the court system and general public, suggesting that those outside interests had deceived her by disguising a self-serving proposal as a positive reform. He was critical of the fact that the reform altered the way personal injury cases were handled without comprehensive public debate or sufficient input from the attorneys and judges handling them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen proposals that affect fundamental rights are placed inside a state budget, when major changes to legal rights are moved not through the ordinary legislative process but through the pressures and the speed of budget negotiations, something larger is at stake,\u201d Finkelstein said. \u201cThis is not just about one statute, this is not just about one type of case, this is not just about personal injury law. It is about the process, it is about power.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reached for comment on Wednesday on Finklestein\u2019s remarks, Hochul, who was not in attendance Tuesday night, said the reforms were in New Yorkers\u2019 best interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Governor\u2019s reforms will hold bad actors accountable and drive down the cost of auto insurance in the process,\u201d Hochul spokesperson Kristin Devoe said in a statement. \u201cWhile some are interested in lining their own pockets, Governor Hochul\u2019s only interest is in doing what\u2019s best for New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\n<\/p>\n

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker accepts an award from Finklestein on behalf of the NYSTLA.Photo by Ramy Mahmoud\n<\/p>\n

Finkelstein\u2019s comments created a bit of an awkward political situation for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The remarks about auto insurance came during Finkelstein\u2019s speech introducing Pritzker to the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Pritzker comes to us from Illinois with a record that speaks directly to the values of this organization,\u201d Finkelstein said after criticizing Hochul\u2019s record. \u201cAt a time when too many leaders see access to justice as something to bargain away, Governor Pritzker has chosen a different path. He has shown that protecting injured people and protecting the rule of law are not competing priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pritzker has signed legislation protecting the rights of injured people to recover prejudgment interest, or compensating victims for delays in personal injury and wrongful death cases when the court process drags on, allowing punitive damages in wrongful death cases and preserving civil remedies for workers with latent occupational diseases, recognizing that people should still be able to sue if the disease appears years after exposure, all of which Finkelstein highlighted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are not technical legal reforms,\u201d Finkelstein said of the laws Pritzker supported. \u201cThose are moral statements. They say that injured people count, they say that accountability matters, they say that civil justice is not a loophole, it is a pillar of our free society.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Pritzker made an offhand comment about \u201cloving\u201d Hochul during his speech accepting the organization\u2019s Champion of Justice award, he received a chorus of boos from the over 500-person audience, a reaction from which he quickly tried to pivot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019re booing her or me,\u201d the Illinois executive told the crowd hesitatingly. \u201cShe\u2019s my fellow governor.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Pritzker\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment on Hochul\u2019s car insurance reforms before publication time.\n<\/p>\n

His acceptance speech primarily focused on the importance of upholding the principle of equal justice under the law, as he said, the Trump administration makes daily attacks on the country\u2019s judicial and legal systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cEqual justice under the law should not be a political slogan,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cIt must be a fundamental tenet of our constitutional republic; it must be able to withstand partisan actors who reject the separation of powers. When that tenet is shown to be weaker than we thought, when it must be propped up on a foundation that is crumbling before our very eyes right now, we must have the bravery to fortify it for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

One way to fortify it, the Illinois governor said, would be to pressure the U.S. Senate not to confirm any more of Trump\u2019s U.S. Supreme Court appointees, a possibility he acknowledged was a real one as Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas are 76 and 78, respectively, and frequently floated as potentially retiring during Trump\u2019s time in office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that turns out to be the case, I think that it will be critically important that those of us in this room and across the country who care about fortifying our democracy and resisting the authoritarian creep of this administration send a clear message to those senators in Washington who will vote to fill that vacancy,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cYou must fight against Donald Trump\u2019s corruption of the court with everything that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remarks came at NYSTLA\u2019s annual gala, an event at Cipriani Wall Street for trial attorneys to network and celebrate those who have had an outsized impact on the profession and the legal system as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s three honorees included Pritzker, Court of Appeals Associate Justice Jenny Rivera, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, known for representing victims of police violence in high-profile cases across the country like Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Trayvon Martin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York State Trial Lawyers Association\u2019s (NYSTLA) president used the group\u2019s annual gala on Tuesday night to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47848,1984,2710,9,11,10,49,51,50,109047,109048],"class_list":["post-284228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-car-insurance","tag-hochul","tag-law","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-new-york-state-trial-lawyers-associaton","tag-pritzker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284228","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=284228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}