Riverhead Patch: Hochul Vetoes Grieving Families Act For 2nd X In 2 Years: 'A Sad Day'

by Lisa Finn - Link to Original Article

January 4, 2024

LONG ISLAND, NY — The news was a blow to families living with staggering loss — efforts to have the Grieving Families Act signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul had, once again, been vetoed.

Those advocating for the Grieving Families Act bill said would bring equity to those who have lost loved ones in wrongful death cases.

According to the the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers, the Grieving Families Act will align New York with other states so that those who lost loved ones to untimely, wrongful death can recover monetary damages. Currently in New York, families can receive damages and compensation commensurate with what the deceased would have earned, had they lived — but there is no recourse for families that have lost a child or an elderly relative, or if the deceased was a low-wage earner.

Hochul vetoed the bill on Friday, at the close of business on a holiday weekend, said Alisa and John McMorris, whose son Andrew, a Boy Scout, was killed by a drunk driver in 2018 while out on a hike.

"This was an act of a coward, slipping the veto in at the last moment without any time for public discussion," Alisa McMorris said. "It is important to note that the bill has passed both the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate with 90 percent support — for a second time in two years. It seems silly me to think that I thought the hard part was passing it through both legislative bodies in New York State. I didn’t realize something with overwhelming support could be so easily vetoed," she said.

McMorris asked friends and family to contact the governor. "Let her know we disagree with her veto and we support the Senate in their authority to override the veto and we believe they should do so!"

In her veto, Hochul said the bill "would fundamentally alter the legal framework for wrongful death claims in New York by expanding the types of damages that may be recovered, expanding the class of persons who may recover such damages and extending the statue o limitations."

Hochul said the "profound depth of sorrow and heartache from losing a loved one because of the careless actions of another is unimaginable." She added that it is "undeniable" that New York's wrongful death statute should be updated.

But, she said, the bill presented "does not create the requisite balance and again introduces the potential for significant unintended consequences," including increased insurance premiums for the vast majority of consumers, as well as risking the financial well-being of health-care facilities, especially public hospitals that serve disadvantaged communities, she said.

Hochul said she remained committed to working collaboratively to find "holistic solutions" that support impacted families "without introducing potential unintended consequences."

McMorris fired back: "No one can comment or make adjustments; it basically was thrown out with the trash. She is refusing to alter a law from 1847 — yes, that is 176 years ago — we are one of only two states that hasn't amended this antiquated law that harshly impacts children, seniors, women, and people of color who are already systemically undervalued in our society. In 2023, nobody’s grief should be measured by archaic notions of family breadwinners and their dependents. Shame, shame, shame!"

Kurt and Nina Kiess lost their son Ryan when he, along with James Farrell, 25, Michael Farrell, 20, and and Uber driver Farhan Zahid, 32, died in a high-speed, head-on crash on Montauk Highway in Quogue in 2021, police said. Ryan's girlfriend Brianna Maglio was critically injured in the crash, police said. The driver who crashed into the Uber head-on, Justin Mendez, 25, also died in the crash, police said.

Kiess, too, has been advocating for new legislation that would bring some equity to grieving families who have lost loved ones in wrongful death cases.

"The voices of the grieving families have been forsaken," Kiess said, along with McMorris; they rallied for change in Albany before the veto. "Most of the people discussing these laws and amendments have never experience the senseless killing or maiming of a loved one personally. They have never sat next to a grieving parent on the bed of their child as they sobbed into a pillow that their child once used."

The two added: "This is an archaic law written in 1847 that uses metrics that are discriminatory. The law basically states that a white male is statistically worth more than a woman, that people of color are worth even less. That people who start their life with privilege and wealth, are worth more than the poor and underprivileged. Grandparents lack value. Children lack value. Our loved ones with special needs and disabilities are close to worthless. To kill a child on Main Street is less expensive to an insurance company than a person who works on Wall Street. This is not how the families grieving loss see the world. Most New Yorkers do not actually see the world this way."

They added: "This is not about money. This is about justice, fairness and our value in society. It's about having people accountable for their actions. The current law protects wrongdoers. Societies values have changed over 150 years. This law needs to be changed. The governor has been influenced by money, funding her campaigns. She should listen to the people!"

And, said McMorris, after the veto: "So, children like Andrew, and Ryan Kiess or the victims in Buffalo shooting and so many others have no value. I guess big business has won again. The love my sweet boy gave to his family is worth nothing! This is cruel to victims across New York State. A few weeks ago the governor was very excited to point out that 'New York State has lagged behind other states . . .today I am here to correct that injustice . . .and sign it into law.' So do we pick and choose what injustice is worthy? It's a sad day for victims in New York State."

A press event was held in Albany in 2022 to urge lawmakers to move forward with passing the Grieving Families Act.

"Each year, New Yorkers are killed by drunk drivers, medical negligence, defective products,dangerous roadway conditions, and countless other acts and omissions. New York’s 1847 Wrongful Death Law fails to deliver justice by not placing value on the loss of the love, affection, companionship and comfort that New Yorkers are deprived of when a loved one’s life is wrongfully taken," a release from the New York Public Interest Research Group said. "New York’s antiquated law effectively baked in the perspectives and biases of its times – devaluing the lives of children, seniors, people of color and women, depriving their loved ones of the full measure of their losses."

The Grieving Families Act, sponsored by New York State Senator Brad Hoylman and New York State Assembly Member Helene Weinstein "will bring New York’s pre-Civil War era wrongful death law in line with other states that already allow their courts to consider the full measure of lost relationships and the many states that recognize the grief that resultsfrom a life wrongfully taken. It will also expand those who can file a wrongful death lawsuit to include close family members — for example, domestic partners— who experience the same sense of loss and pain and yet are barred from pursuing any accountability against the wrongdoer," the release said.

"No amount of money can replace a father, a daughter, a sibling, a domestic partner, or a spouse — but financial compensation for family members grieving a loved one’s wrongful death is a necessary accountability tool," Hoylman said.

Weinstein added: "It is well known that New York's antiquated Wrongful Death Law has had a disproportionate effect upon women, children, and senior citizens, by valuing their lives at a fraction of the worth of others. This is why I have been fighting to change this law for nearly 30 years."

Kiess reflected on his family's unspeakable loss: "In July 2021, I lost my son. Ryan had done everything right. Planning a night out dancing with friends, they all took an Uber to be safe," he wrote. "It was the worst moment of my life and I’m still learning how to cope with the loss of Ryan. His death was entirely preventable and yet, like so many others who are tragically and wrongfully taken, his life is worth nothing in the state of New York."

He added: "This is not an attempt to make money off of loss. If I could trade all the money in the world to get Ryan back, I would. I’m sure other families who have suffered a similar loss would agree with me. But there is a true problem in our system when a pair of twins — one a millionaire and one of modest means — can both die in the same accident and the wealthier one is 'worth more' in the eyes of the law. Don’t both their families feel the same anguish? Don’t their children experience the same loss? Why then is it acceptable to tell one family that their tragedy is worth more or less than another’s?"

Kiess also said he believes the current wrongful death law does nothing but perpetuate inequality statewide. Those who are the most harshly impacted — seniors, women and people of color — are already "systemically underpaid, overworked and undervalued," he said.

McMorris has also advocated tirelessly for change: "What is your child’s life worth? How does one grapple with the long term effects of pain and suffering due to a tragic loss of life when it was 100 percent preventable?"

Reflecting on that dark day, she said: "When our dear sweet boy was struck and killed by a drunk driver, our world came crashing down. Just taking a breath was painful. It was as if we were caught in a hurricane in a little boat that was broken into a million little pieces, and we were clinging to the floating wreckage. Waves stuck us constantly and we could barely catch our breath. As the years have gone by, we have slowly and steadily tried to rebuild our boat. With the help of our friend’s family and community we have patched together something to allow us to go from parenting Andrew to parenting his legacy."

However, she said she and her family were shocked to find that "New York State does not value Andrew’s life — at 12 years old, the law that was written in the 1800s doesn’t account for pain, suffering, loss and other damages of those who loved him most."

When Andrew was taking his last breaths and the heart monitor went to a steady flatline tone, McMorris turned to the nurses and asked if she could clean him.

"My husband and I were the first to give him his bath on March 30, 2006 and on October 1 in the 4:00 a.m. hour we washed him for the last time. I examined every little piece of my boy from his little toes all the way to his eyelashes. I placed his body into the body bag, took one fine listen to his heart to make sure he was truly gone, I cradled his face and as my tears fell on his cheeks, I promised him I would make a change so his death would not be in vain. So we fight for the Grieving Families Act so that other families do not have to hear these words: 'I’m sorry, your child is just not worth anything in the eyes of New York State.'"

The McMorris family has also joined forces with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to change vehicular laws both nationally, and statewide so that no other family has to endure this kind of loss to drunk and drugged driving.

Elizabeth and Joseph Muldoon spoke out in 2022 for Adam Jackson and Abigail King Jackson, lost in the Schoharie limousine crash.

"October 6, 2018, was like every other Saturday. We were spending the day with our granddaughters. Little did we know, it would become a parent’s worst nightmare," they said. "On that day, my son, daughter-in law and many of their friends lost their lives. That was the day, our two precious granddaughters, 16 months and 4 years old at the time, lost their mommy and daddy, three aunts, a godfather and two uncles. . . Their parents matter, people's lives matter — and when taken wrongfully, it is worth something. The people lost cannot speak, so we need to do so for them."

New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo, a co-sponsor who voted to move the measure forward, told Patch: "For too long this bill has languished . . . with New York lagging behind other states in providing grieving families the right to recover for lost ones."