NEW YORK MUNI RELIEF PLAN:

New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno’s plan to help save local property taxpayers billions of dollars includes municipal liability reforms. The Republican’s municipal plan would repeal joint and several liability, limit jury awards to $250,000 and extend Court of Claims jurisdiction to localities. The latter bill to extend the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims would require a constitutional amendment. Proponents of the measures (S. 2944, S. 5395) claim they would save local governments across the state $1 billion. Sen. Dale M. Volker, a Buffalo-area Republican sponsor, called New York’s “out of control” civil justice system an “ongoing game of lawsuit lottery.” According to the Public Policy Institute the ‘tort tax’ cost every taxpayer in New York $800 in 1996. Last year, the City of New York paid out more than $550 million in settlements and judgments in lawsuits claiming the city negligently caused injuries.