Bill Text: NY A05629 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides that a liability insurer may be sued for and the plaintiff may recover compensatory damages where the insurer failed to effectuate prompt and fair settlement of the claim and considered its interests to the detriment of the insured so as to cause the rendering of a judgment in excess of the policy limits.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to codes [A05629 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A05629-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5629--B 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 14, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WEINSTEIN, TITUS, SEAWRIGHT, ZEBROWSKI, COLTON, CYMBROWITZ, JAFFEE, HEVESI, HUNTER, D'URSO, ABINANTI, GOTTFRIED, TAYLOR, MOSLEY, DE LA ROSA -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. MORINELLO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- reported and referred to the Committee on Codes -- reported and referred to the Committee on Rules -- Rules Committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to maintaining an action against a liability insurer seeking compensatory damages in excess of the policy limits where such insurer failed to engage in prompt and fair settlement of the claim The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 3420 of the insurance law is amended by adding a 2 new subsection (b-1) to read as follows: 3 (b-1) An action may also be maintained by the persons identified in 4 paragraphs one, two and three of subsection (b) of this section against 5 the insurer to recover damages including compensatory damages and inter- 6 est measured from the time of failure to offer a fair and reasonable 7 settlement in accordance with this section, from such insurer to the 8 full extent of the judgment against the insured, not limited to the 9 policy limits and not subject to the limitations and conditions of para- 10 graph two of subsection (a) of this section, where a preponderance of 11 the evidence establishes that the insurer failed to effectuate a prompt 12 and fair settlement of a claim or any portion thereof, and where under 13 the totality of the facts and circumstances related to the claim, the 14 insurer failed to reasonably accord at least equal or more favorable 15 consideration to its insured's interests as it did to its own interests, 16 and thereby exposed the insured to a judgment in excess of the policy 17 limits. 18 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00917-04-9