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S05170 Summary:

S05170 Actions:

S05170 Committee Votes:

S05170 Floor Votes:

S05170 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          5170
 
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                    February 19, 2025
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee 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.
                                                                   LBD07136-01-5
        S. 5170                             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.