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.
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.