Bill Text: NY A11119 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to creating an action for the recovery of damages for personal injury caused by exposure to toxic burn pits while serving as a member of the armed forces on or after August 2, 1990.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-11-06 - referred to judiciary [A11119 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A11119-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          11119

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    November 6, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Hunter) --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

        AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to  creat-
          ing  an  action for the recovery of damages for personal injury caused
          by exposure to toxic burn pits while serving as a member of the  armed
          forces

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new
     2  section 214-i to read as follows:
     3    § 214-i. Action to recover  damages  for  personal  injury  caused  by
     4  contact  with  or  exposure  to  toxic burn pits. 1. Notwithstanding any
     5  provision of law to the contrary,  an  action  to  recover  damages  for
     6  personal injury caused by exposure to toxic burn pits while serving as a
     7  member of the armed forces of the United States in Afghanistan, Bahrain,
     8  Burkina  Faso,  Cameroon, Chad, Diego Garcia, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia,
     9  Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan,  Kenya,  Kuwait,  Kyrgyzstan,  Libya,  Mali,
    10  Niger,  Nigeria,  Oman,  Pakistan,  Philippines,  Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
    11  South Sudan, Sudan, Syria,  Tajikistan,  Tunisia,  Turkey,  United  Arab
    12  Emirates,  Uzbekistan,  and  Yemen  on  or after August second, nineteen
    13  hundred ninety, may be commenced within two years from the date  of  the
    14  discovery of such injury, or within two years from the date when through
    15  the  exercise  of  reasonable  diligence the cause of such injury should
    16  have been discovered, whichever is later.
    17    2. For the purposes of this section, a personal injury  includes,  but
    18  shall  not  be  limited to the following diseases: asthma that was diag-
    19  nosed after service in a country or  territory  listed,  cancer  of  any
    20  type,   chronic   bronchitis,  chronic  obstructive  pulmonary  disease,
    21  constrictive bronchiolitis  or  obliterative  bronchiolitis,  emphysema,
    22  granulomatous  disease,  interstitial lung disease, lymphoma, pleuritis,
    23  pulmonary fibrosis, and sarcoidosis.
    24    § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 214 of the civil practice law and rules,
    25  as separately amended by chapters 485 and 682 of the laws  of  1986,  is
    26  amended to read as follows:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD17555-02-0
        A. 11119                            2

     1    5.  an  action  to  recover  damages  for  a personal injury except as
     2  provided in sections 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215;
     3    §  3.  Every cause of action for an injury or death caused by exposure
     4  to toxic burn pits while serving as a member of the armed forces of  the
     5  United  States  in  Afghanistan,  Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad,
     6  Diego Garcia, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia,  Gabon,  Ghana,  Iraq,  Jordan,
     7  Kenya,  Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan,
     8  Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria,  Tajikis-
     9  tan,  Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen on or
    10  after August second, nineteen hundred ninety, which is barred as of  the
    11  effective  date  of this act because the applicable period of limitation
    12  has expired is hereby revived and extended and any action thereon may be
    13  commenced and prosecuted.
    14    § 4. The provisions of this act shall be severable, and if any clause,
    15  sentence, paragraph, subdivision or part of this act shall  be  adjudged
    16  by  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment
    17  shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall
    18  be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph,  subdi-
    19  vision  or  part  thereof  directly involved in the controversy in which
    20  such judgment shall have been rendered.
    21    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.