New New York Court Decision: Another Insurance Company Defense Tactic Denied!

This post is not intended to be political, but it does discuss the New York Serious Injury Statute's definition of "Fetus".

In order to maintain a lawsuit for injuries you received as a result of a car wreck in N.Y., your injuries must fall within the list of "serious injuries" contained in the New York No Fault Statute.  One of these injuries is "Loss of a Fetus".

In a recently decided Upstate Case McKendry v. Thornberry, the Court had to wrestle with the definition of the word "fetus".  The lawyers for Thornberry decided to make a motion to dismiss McKendry's case because her pregnancy was in an early "embryonic" stage rather than the "fetus" stage of development.

The lawyer for McKendry argued that a pregnancy of ANY duration constitues a "fetus" as the word is used in the statute.

Here's a little civics lesson:  when there is a word in a statute that needs interpretation because people are arguing over it, they look to letters, documents and memos which may give an idea into the statute writers' INTENT.  This is called "Statutory Construction", and is even used by the U.S. Supreme Court to make decisions on the way words are used in our Constitution.  Cool, huh?

So, that's what this court did.  It looked at a memorandum in support of the New York No Fault (Serious Injury) Statute and found this:

     "A woman who is involved in an automobile accident that results in    the termination of her pregnancy has suffered a serious injury and should have the right to recover from a negligent operator for her... loss."

This memo made the decision a little easier for the court.  The memo discusses "termination of pregnancy" - not just a loss of a "fetus" as the term is used by the medical community.

Long story short, all lost pregnancies, no matter if the are one day or one hundred days will qualify as a serious injury under New York law.

This is just another example of the extremes in which insurance carriers and their defense attorneys will go to avoid paying legitimate injury claims.

Make sure your personal injury attorney is aware of this case. He or she can Google the title.

If you have any questions, please contact me at jeenabelil@jeenabelil.com

Your Long Island, New York Accident Attorney