New York trial lawyers and the lawmakers whose campaigns they fund are blocking Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s fight against fraud, excessive litigation, and lawsuit abuse in one of the nation’s worst “Judicial Hellholes®.”
“It’s no surprise that wealthy lawyers who benefit most from the status quo are fighting tooth and nail to keep the cash machine flowing to pad their pockets — and to maintain their influence in Albany,” said Lauren Sheets Jarrell, the American Tort Reform Association’s vice president and counsel for civil justice policy. “While they’re dumping millions into political campaigns and TV ads to squeeze more out of everyone else, hardworking families pay for their greed.”
“Gov. Hochul is offering commonsense solutions to crack down on fraud and make New York more affordable for everyone, and instead of doing something that might help their constituents, lawmakers are siding with politically connected trial attorneys,” Sheets Jarrell said.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers contributed nearly $6.5 million to lawmakers between 2022 and 2025, according to a recent report from the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York. Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a significant legislative roadblock to Hochul’s proposed reforms, received $25,000 last year from the New York State Trial Lawyers Association to a PAC he owns. Speaker Heastie’s former college roommate and communications consultant, Patrick Jenkins, made $528,000 last year lobbying for the interests of NYSTLA in Albany.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’s PAC also received $25,000 from NYSTLA. Under the leadership of Stewart-Cousins, New York State Democrats have received political consultancy from a lobbying firm founded by the son of one of her Senate colleagues. Evan Stavisky, whose mother is Queens Democratic state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, is founding partner and president of the Parkside Group. The younger Stavisky pocketed nearly $140,000 last year from a lobbying gig for another lawyer advocacy group, the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers.
“This complicated web of money and influence contributes to the dysfunction we’re seeing in New York now and offers insights into why some lawmakers like Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie are so reluctant to fight back against the forces that fund,” Sheets Jarrell said.
New Yorkers pay the second-highest “tort tax” in the nation, at $2,684 per person annually due to excessive litigation — up 43% since 2022.
Dubbed the “fraudemic,” a growing pattern of lawsuit abuse in New York City and across the state has led to skyrocketing insurance rates in the perennial “Judicial Hellhole®,” ranked No. 2 in the most recent report from the American Tort Reform Foundation. Several high-profile law firms involved in the “fraudemic” help fund lawmakers’ campaigns as well. Four firms contributed nearly $142,000 between 2022 and 2025, 74% of which went to NYSTLA’s LAWPAC. Subin Associates, Gorayeb & Associates, Liakas Law, and William Schwitzer & Associates all face RICO lawsuits with accusations of fraudulent activity and involvement with staged accidents.
In 2023, New York had the second-highest number of staged vehicle accidents in the country at 1,729 staged car crashes, according to the state’s Department of Financial Services. New York drivers pay approximately $4,000 each year on average for auto insurance premiums — nearly $1,500 above the national average, Gov. Hochul said.
Along with rising auto insurance fraud and no-fault litigation scams plaguing New York’s legal system, spending on trial lawyer ads spiked to nearly $179 million in 2025 — an 84% increase since 2023. A majority (78%) of the 1.2 million total local legal services ads in 2025 promoted personal injury attorneys, with nearly 300,000 ads specifically related to accident attorneys, including motor vehicle and construction worksite accidents.
“Lawyers are dumping millions into ads urging New Yorkers to embrace a culture of lawsuit abuse,” Sheets Jarrell said. “The types of cases these accident attorneys advertise are the exact type of cases that have become central to the ‘fraudemic’ that Gov. Hochul is fighting.”
Beyond its longtime Judicial Hellhole® status, New York’s legislature additionally earned the title of “Lawsuit Inferno” in ATRA’s Legislative HeatCheck report two years running. Both Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie voted to expand liability at every opportunity, contributing to the affordability crisis New Yorkers face today.
