Governor Kathy Hochul has taken a firm stand, accusing the influential trial lawyers’ lobbying group of spreading falsehoods about her initiative designed to significantly reduce car insurance costs.
Hochul’s proposal seeks to redefine what constitutes a “serious injury” in legal terms. This change aims to reduce frivolous and fraudulent claims, such as those from staged accidents, and to limit the compensation for victims who are uninsured, convicted of impaired driving, or have a felony conviction related to the accident.
During a recent press event, the Trial Lawyers Association, alongside Assemblywoman Jen Lunsford (D-Rochester), showcased several cases of accident victims, arguing that Hochul’s plan would have adversely affected their ability to seek damages.
However, the Hochul administration has reviewed these cases and asserted that none of the victims would have been affected by her proposed changes.
“Using serious accident victims to spread misinformation and twist the facts is a new low,” a spokesperson for Hochul stated.
“The governor’s proposals for auto insurance are a sensible approach to eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse, while ensuring that legitimate victims receive their due compensation. While special interests continue to prioritize profits, Governor Hochul remains committed to reducing costs for New Yorkers.”
Hochul’s team said her proposals do not change the ability of victims — people not at fault — to recover economic damages such as reimbursement for medical costs and lost wages. Nor does it change their ability to pursue non-economic damages including for emotional distress, pain and suffering.
The Trial Lawlers lobby, which has deep ties to the Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly, has been a force in urging lawmakers to block or stall Hochul’s proposal, which a determined Hochul is trying to tuck into the state budget as part of her affordability agenda.
Sources said the spat is one of the major hold-ups in adopting a new state budget, which was due April 1.
5 Trial Lawyers Association cases rebutted by Hochul’s team’s analysis:
- Neil Browne: An accident victim who requires multiple surgeries and is unable to work due to injury would still be entitled to the same ability to pursue economic damages as is currently the case. He would also meet one of the eight remaining categories of serious injury if he chooses to pursue non-economic damages.
- Alison: She was not found at fault and her ability to pursue economic and non-economic damages would not be affected.
- Robert Bornt: He was killed. The governor’s proposal does not impact the ability of families of the deceased to pursue damages
- Lynette, an accident victim who required multiple surgeries and was unable to work due to injury, would be entitled to the same right to pursue economic damages and meet one of the eight remaining categories of serious injury should she choose to pursue non-economic damages.
- Jermaine: Suffers from broken bones and shoulder defined as serious injury. Hochul is not proposing changing the criteria, so he would still be eligible to pursue non-economic damages.
In response, a Trial Lawyers Association rep called Hochul’s analysis “blatantly false.”
“These claims are blatantly false, just like the fiction being sold to the public that this plan will result in savings. Unlike the paid actors employed by the astroturf groups supporting the governor’s pro-insurance agenda, these are real victims who have been seriously injured,” said TLA spokesperson Sabrina Rezzy.
“Clearly, the governor’s office has no problem attacking crash victims – just like her policies do – for the benefit of insurers.”
Hochul’s proposals “incentivize the defendant to drag out the case, aiming to shift just enough blame onto the victim to avoid paying anything at all.”
A grieving family “could be left with nothing”—based on a disputed allocation of fault—under the governor’s plan, the TLA rep said.
Data show that New York drivers pay the highest car insurance rates in the nation, shelling out more than $4,000 on average.
The state Department of Financial Services reports that insurance carriers reported 43,811 incidents of suspected auto vehicle insurance fraud to its fraud bureau in 2025. That’s a staggering 80% increase over 5 years, when 24,238 incidents of suspected fraud were reported.
In 2023, New York State had 1,729 staged crashes, ranking second highest in the nation.
The Insurance Information Institute estimates that fraud raises auto insurance premiums by up to $300 per year.
Democrat Hochul’s tort reform package comes on the heels of a law approved by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 that curb litigation and other costs.
Over that time, Florida’s car insurance premiums reversed from a 25% increase in 2023 to a 2.5% increase in 20024 to a 7.4% reduction for drivers in 2025.
By comparison, increases in New York car insurance premiums increased 13.1% in 2024 and 11.1% in 2025.
Hochul is not without deep-heeled allies backing her car insurance package.
Ride share app Uber Technologies has pumped $8 million into a Super PAC — Citizens for Affordable Rates — that is bankrolling a media ad campaign supporting Hochul’s plan to lower New York’s sky-high car-insurance costs.
Mailings paid for by Uber Technologies recently hit mailboxes of voters in support of Hochul’s plan.
