-  This bill is not active in this session.
 

A02373 Summary:

BILL NOA02373
 
SAME ASSAME AS S06552
 
SPONSORDinowitz
 
COSPNSR
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add §1405, CPLR
 
Permits a plaintiff to recover directly against a third party defendant found to be liable to the defendant in certain actions.
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A02373 Actions:

BILL NOA02373
 
01/22/2019referred to judiciary
06/19/2019reference changed to codes
06/19/2019reported referred to rules
06/20/2019reported
06/20/2019rules report cal.638
06/20/2019substituted by s6552
 S06552 AMEND= SKOUFIS
 06/16/2019REFERRED TO RULES
 06/19/2019ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.1801
 06/19/2019PASSED SENATE
 06/19/2019DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
 06/19/2019referred to codes
 06/20/2019substituted for a2373
 06/20/2019ordered to third reading rules cal.638
 06/20/2019passed assembly
 06/20/2019returned to senate
 12/20/2019DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR
 12/26/2019VETOED MEMO.287
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A02373 Committee Votes:

CODES Chair:Lentol DATE:06/19/2019AYE/NAY:16/6 Action: Favorable refer to committee Rules
LentolAyeRaNay
SchimmingerNayGiglioNay
PretlowAyeMontesanoNay
CookAyeMorinelloNay
CymbrowitzAyePalumboAye
O'DonnellAyeGarbarinoNay
LavineAye
PerryAye
ZebrowskiAye
AbinantiAye
WeprinAye
MosleyAye
HevesiAye
FahyAye
SeawrightAye
RosenthalAye

RULES Chair:Gottfried DATE:06/20/2019AYE/NAY:27/0 Action: Favorable
HeastieExcusedKolbAye
GottfriedAyeCrouchAye
LentolAyeFinchAye
GanttExcusedBarclayAye
NolanAyeRaiaAye
WeinsteinAyeHawleyAye
OrtizAyeGiglioAye
PretlowAyeMalliotakisAye
CookAye
GlickAye
AubryAye
EnglebrightAye
DinowitzAye
ColtonAye
MagnarelliAye
PerryAye
PaulinExcused
TitusAye
Peoples-StokesExcused
BenedettoAye
LavineAye
LupardoAye
ZebrowskiAye

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A02373 Floor Votes:

There are no votes for this bill in this legislative session.
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A02373 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A2373
 
SPONSOR: Dinowitz
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to permitting a plaintiff to recover against a third party defendant in certain cases   PURPOSE OF BILL: This bill would add a new Section 1405 to the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) to expressly permit a plaintiff, as judgment creditor against defendant, to recover and collect an unsatisfied judgment or portion of a judgment directly against a third-party defendant found liable for contribution or indemnification.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF BILL: Section 1: Adds a new Section 1405 to the CPLR to permit a plaintiff to recover and collect an unsatisfied judgment or a portion of a judgment against a third-party defendant or co-defendant, when a plaintiff has entered judgment against a defendant which is unsatisfied thirty days after service on the defendant-judgment debtor, and where judgment has been entered in favor of the defendant-judgment debtor against a co-de- fendant or third-party defendant on a cause of action for contribution or indemnification. Under certain circumstances where the plaintiffs judgment remains unsatisfied thirty days after it has been served on the defendant-judgment debtor, and where the defendant-judgment debtor has a cause of action for contribution or indemnification which has not been reduced to judgment, then the plaintiff-judgment creditor may attach, or take an assignment from the defendant judgment debtor of the cause of action for contribution or indemnification and prosecute the action in the plaintiffs own name or in the name of the defendant judgment debtor. Direct recovery, however, is not authorized against a third-party defendant in those circumstances in which the third-party claim would have been barred by Section 11 of the Worker's Compensation Law. Protects the ability of a plaintiff-judgement creditor to enforce their rights against a third-party pursuant to this legislation by preserving the ability for plaintiff-judgement creditor to pursue a judgement or cause of action against a third party even if such claim or cause of action is extinguished in the bankruptcy of a defendant-judgement debtor. Section 2: This shall take effect immediately, and shall apply to all unexpired judgements that have not been fully satisfied as of the date of enactment.   EXISTING LAW: Section 1401 of the CPLR provides, with certain exceptions under the General Obligations Law and the Workers' Compensation Law, that two or more persons who are subject to liability for damages for the same personal injury, injury to property or wrongful death, may claim contribution among them whether or not an action has been brought or a judgment has been rendered against the person from whom contribution is sought. Section 1403 of the CPLR provides that a cause of action for contribution may be asserted in a separate action or by cross-claim, counter-claim or third-party claim in a pending action.   JUSTIFICATION: A plaintiff's recovery of a judgment that ultimately comes from a third party defendant should not depend on the fortuity of the solvency of the defendant/third party plaintiff. Accordingly, this measure would allow a plaintiff to recover on a judgment for contribution or indemnification directly against the third-party defendant, whether or not the defendant/third party plaintiff has satisfied the underlying judgment for which contribution or indemnification is sought. Thus, in the case where a defendant/third party plaintiff is insolvent and is unable to pay the judgment to the plaintiff: the plaintiff could still seek to recover directly that portion of the judgment, as determined by the principles of contribution and indemnification, owed by the third party defendant to the defendant/third party plaintiff. This bill also seeks to protect the ability of an injured plaintiff to collect a judgement in the event a defendant-judgement debtor's cause of action or judgement against a 3rd party wrongdoer is extinguished in bankruptcy, leaving the plaintiff with no remedy to collect their judgment. This measure would not alter in any way the substantive law of the Work- ers' Compensation. The 1996 Omnibus Worker's Compensation Reform Act already limits claims for contribution and indemnification against an employer to only those cases involving "grave injuries." In cases where there are not grave injuries the employer is not liable as a matter of substantive law, and therefore this measure would not affect such employees at all.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2017-2018- A.9031 2015-2016 - S.563/A.251; 2013-2014 - S.555A/A.1002A; 2011-2012 - S.3761/A.630; 2009-2010 - S.2392/A.2576; 2007-2008 - S.2065/A.6310; 2005-2006 - S.7487/A.11076; 2003-2004 - S.5006/A.7493;   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This Act will take effect immediately, and shall apply to all unexpired judgments that have not been fully satisfied as of the date of enact- ment.
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A02373 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          2373
 
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 22, 2019
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Judiciary
 
        AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to permit-
          ting a plaintiff to recover against a third party defendant in certain
          cases
 
          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 1405 to read as follows:
     3    § 1405. Permitting plaintiff, as judgment creditor against  defendant,
     4  to  recover  and  collect  unsatisfied  judgment  or portion of judgment
     5  against third-party defendant or co-defendant liable for contribution or
     6  indemnification. (a) Where a plaintiff has entered a judgment against  a
     7  defendant  and the judgment remains unsatisfied thirty days after it has
     8  been served on the defendant-judgment debtor,  and  where  judgment  has
     9  been  entered in favor of the defendant-judgment debtor against a co-de-
    10  fendant or third-party defendant on a cause of action  for  contribution
    11  or for contractual or common law indemnification, the plaintiff-judgment
    12  creditor  may collect any unsatisfied amount of the plaintiff's judgment
    13  against the defendant from the co-defendant or third-party defendant  up
    14  to  the amount awarded on the cause of action for contribution or indem-
    15  nification.
    16    (b) Where the plaintiff's judgment  remains  unsatisfied  thirty  days
    17  after it has been served on the defendant-judgment debtor, and where the
    18  defendant-judgment  debtor has a cause of action for contribution or for
    19  contractual or common law indemnification which has not been reduced  to
    20  judgment, the plaintiff-judgment creditor may attach, or take an assign-
    21  ment  from  the  defendant-judgment  debtor  of, the cause of action for
    22  contribution or indemnification, and prosecute the cause  of  action  in
    23  the  plaintiff's  own  name  or  in  the  name of the defendant-judgment
    24  debtor, and recover a judgment therein for the same amount  of  contrib-
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01267-01-9

        A. 2373                             2
 
     1  ution  or  indemnification as would be awarded to the defendant-judgment
     2  debtor  if  the  defendant-judgment  debtor  had  satisfied  plaintiff's
     3  original judgment in full. Such remedy is in addition to any other means
     4  available  to the plaintiff-judgment debtor for enforcement of the judg-
     5  ment. This section shall not authorize direct recovery against a  third-
     6  party  defendant  in  those circumstances in which the third-party claim
     7  against that  third-party  defendant  would  have  been  barred  by  the
     8  provisions  of section eleven of the workers' compensation law, and does
     9  not otherwise permit a plaintiff to bring a cause of  action  against  a
    10  third  party if such third party was the plantiff's employer at the time
    11  of the incident or injury.
    12    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall  apply  to  all
    13  judgments entered by plaintiffs on or after such date.
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A02373 LFIN:

 NO LFIN
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A02373 Chamber Video/Transcript:

6-20-19Video (@ 01:52:29)Transcript pdf Transcript html
6-20-19Video (@ 03:39:53)Transcript pdf Transcript html
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