Metro

Lawyers in drive for more car suits

ALBANY — State trial lawyers are making a furious end-of-session push for legislation to make it dramatically easier for car-accident victims to sue — a move critics say would hike New York’s already sky-high auto-insurance rates.

One trial lawyer-backed bill — sponsored by Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-SI) and Sen. Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn) — would greatly expand the list of injuries that allows accident victims to opt out of the state’s “no fault” insurance system and seek settlement in court.

Current law requires injured drivers to take medical payments from their own insurance companies unless they suffer a specific list of “serious” injuries, including disfigurement or broken bones.

The new proposal would widen that list to cover a host of hardships, including muscle tears, pinched nerves and any injury that requires surgery of any form.

“We see this as a full-employment act for the trial lawyers at the expense of increased auto premiums and New York drivers,” said Kristina Baldwin, assistant vice president for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

“There would just be a huge increase in the number of bodily-injury law suits filed.”

The industry estimates the bill, if passed, would put it on the hook for as much as $2 billion in new payouts and increase the average auto-insurance bill anywhere from $40 to $101 a year.

New Yorkers paid an average of $1,179 for auto insurance in 2007, putting the Empire State behind only New Jersey and Louisiana for the highest rates in the country, according to the most recent data.

Trial lawyers say the legislation is intended to “start a dialogue” in the debate over the state’s no-fault system.

“Comprehensive reform of the no-fault system should combat fraud and modernize definitions written more than 30 years ago — before technological innovations like MRIs and CAT scans were available to properly diagnose debilitating injuries — but still used today to deny legitimate claims,” said state Trial Lawyers Association President Richard Binko.

Assembly Insurance Chairman Joseph Morelle (D-Rochester) said he would not support the legislation “in its present form under any circumstances.”

“The goal is comprehensive reform,” Morelle said.

“This is just me, but I don’t want to dramatically expand what a serious injury is because that would result in many more cases and drive rates higher.”

brendan.scott@nypost.com