Enacts the "fairness for accident victims act"; provides that with respect to a serious personal injury action still permissible under the no-fault insurance system, the award or decision of an arbitrator or master arbitrator rendered in a no-fault arbitration will not constitute a collateral estoppel of the issues arbitrated.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5591--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 8, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to the collateral estop-
pel effect of issues decided by certain arbitrators
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "fairness for accident victims act ("FAVA")".
3 § 2. Section 5106 of the insurance law is amended by adding new
4 subsection (e) to read as follows:
5 (e) With respect to an action for serious personal injury permissible
6 under section five thousand one hundred four of this article, an award
7 or decision of an arbitrator or master arbitrator or that is court
8 rendered pursuant to subsection (c) of this section seeking no-fault
9 reimbursement by or for medical providers, shall not be given collateral
10 estoppel effect in any action or proceeding arising out of the same
11 occurrence and shall not be admissible in any action or proceeding in
12 actions seeking damages for bodily injuries, pain suffering, medical
13 care and loss of wages as evidence of any facts.
14 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
15 pending civil actions and arbitrations.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04058-02-3
