Westchester County-based law firm Fullerton Beck is calling on New York-area insurers to join other local businesses and organizations, including the Business Council of Westchester, (BCW) an organization of which Fullerton Beck is a member, to urge Governor Cuomo to veto the Summary Judgment Interest Legislation that would increase the cost of doing business in New York. If enacted, the legislation would allow for the awarding of interest after summary judgment is denied by the court, but then reversed on appeal, which is currently only allowed under New York law for contractual disputes and wrongful death cases, not personal injury matters.

The legislation would establish a potentially costly precedent particularly in construction cases in New York state, given the strict liability in Labor Law 240/241 (also known as the Scaffold Law) cases, which often involve allegations of significant personal injuries and decades of lost wages. According to the letter sent by the BCW and a coalition of businesses, “This legislation would have a dramatic impact on the state’s construction industry, which already pays the highest insurance rates in the nation. The legislation would also affect the availability of insurance, particularly for small businesses and minority and women-owned business enterprises that already struggle to find coverage.”

The attorneys at Fullerton Beck focus on the defense of Labor Law cases.