NY’S A SUING STATE
2nd in ‘frivolous’ US
It’s settled: New York is the second-worst “judicial hellhole” in the country, according to a study.
The Empire State earned the unflattering ranking, behind only California, thanks to a flood of frivolous food lawsuits, disability complaints and “nuclear” verdicts shelling out millions in awards, the American Tort Reform Association found.
The nonprofit says 109 food and beverage consumer classaction suits were filed in New York state last year.
One lawyer, Spencer Sheehan — dubbed the “Vanilla Vigilante” — filed almost twothirds of these types of suits in 2020, the association claims in its 20th annual report, issued Tuesday.
One of Sheehan’s complaints accuses the supermarket chain Price Chopper of selling vanilla Greek yogurt with “natural flavors” although it contains only artificial flavoring.
New York also has the most cases brought under the Americans With Disabilities Act, with 1,694 filed in 2020 alone, the study says.
ADA suits typically involve claims that companies’ Web sites aren’t accessible for the visually impaired or that brick-and-mortar stores don’t have ramps for those in wheelchairs.
The study highlights “serial plaintiffs” who, in some cases, have brought claims against dozens of companies.
One of them, Arik Matatov, was outed by The Post in 2018 for claiming he was wheelchair-bound and unable to access a number of shops, although he could actually walk.
Another major problem in New York’s civil courts are socalled “nuclear verdicts” in personal-injury and medicalmalpractice cases that far surpass other awards in similar cases, the reform group claims.
The study highlights the $20 million award that Mark Perez received for a brain injury he suffered when he fell at a Live Nation concert in 2013.
The jury originally awarded him $101 million and the appellate court in April knocked it down to $20 million — still making it the highest at the time.
An even higher payout came last month in the case of severely burned high- school student Alonzo Yanes.
An appellate court awarded him $29 million, cutting a $60 million jury judgment.
New York also ranks third in the country for the most asbestos-related lawsuits, which are chronically padded with blameless defendants, according to a prior study. The group blamed the state’s judicial problem on the Legislature passing bills that promote the expansion of litigation rather than bills that limit it.
“Lawsuits might fill government budget gaps and give trial lawyers a nice payday, but the unfortunate reality is that awards and settlements primarily benefit lawyers, not the individuals they claim to help or the problems that were to be solved,” ATRA boss Tiger Joyce said.
Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York executive director Tom Stebbins added, “Average New Yorkers are hurting and they can hardly afford to continue to subsidize the lavish lifestyles of the Empire State’s trial attorneys.