Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Thursday, February 4, 1999

Release #044-99

Contact: Colleen Roche/Curt Ritter (212) 788-2958


MAYOR GIULIANI DETAILS CITY'S TORT REFORM PROPOSAL

LEGISLATION WOULD RESULT IN MILLIONS IN SAVINGS TO CITY TAXPAYERS

Mayor Promises Continued Vigilance Against Fraudulent Suits

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, joined by Corporation Counsel Michael Hess and Department of Investigation Commissioner Edward Kuriansky, announced today that passage of the City's tort reform package, currently pending before the State Legislature, would result in at least $70 million in savings for New York City taxpayers. The Mayor also noted that the City's Department of Investigation would continue to be vigorous in investigating allegations of fraudulent lawsuits.

"Each year the City spends almost $400 million on judgments and claims as a result of thousands of lawsuits," said Mayor Giuliani. "New York City's current legislative tort reform package would provide the City, State and all other local governments with significant savings at no cost to the State. The proposal would enable the City to continue to compensate injured parties reasonably, while preventing tort costs from escalating uncontrollably. I want to thank Governor Pataki for making tort reform a priority in his upcoming legislative agenda, and I look forward to reviewing it further when it is released later this month."

There are two key components of the Mayor's tort reform proposal.

The proposal also includes other reform initiatives including:

"By proposing to move these cases to the Court of Claims -- where cases are decided by judges -- the Mayor's proposal will address the problem of disproportionate damages awarded by sympathetic jurors, who fail to realize that New York City taxpayers must bear the cost of their judgements," said Corporation Counsel Michael Hess.

The Mayor also noted that DOI would remain vigilant in investigating those who bring fraudulent lawsuits against the City of New York. He congratulated Commissioner Kuriansky on the arrest today of Michael Alma, who was charged with attempting to defraud the City of New York of $5 million by filing a fraudulent lawsuit.

Mr. Alma claimed that the City was negligent in maintaining a sidewalk, causing him to fall and fracture his hand. DOI's investigation revealed that Alma did, in fact break his wrist, however, the injury was sustained when he threw a punch at his 14-year old cousin, missed, and hit a wooden door, instead. The case is currently being prosecuted by the Office of the Manhattan District Attorney.

Department of Investigation Commissioner Edward Kuriansky said, "People who think that suing the City is a better bet than winning the lottery have to learn that our legal system cannot be fraudulently manipulated for personal gain. This kind of rank abuse not only cheats the City, but tarnishes the claims of people with real grievances."

Mr. Hess added, "Over the last several years, the Law Department has referred a significant number of matters involving the fraudulent prosecution of personal injury lawsuits to the Department of Investigation and the City's District Attorneys. Each year more than 10,000 lawsuits are filed against the City, and we estimate that 10 percent of these turn out to be fraudulent lawsuits."

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