Discriminating in Death: How New York's Limitation of Wrongful Death Damages to Pecuniary Loss Perpetuates Gender, Racial, Age and Class Discrimination

Professor Finley will present research establishing how limits on non-pecuniary loss damages in tort cases have serious disparate impacts on women, children, the elderly, and racial minorities. New York's wrongful death damages law, which bars any recovery for non-pecuniary loss, exacerbates these discriminatory impacts on the survivors of those who suffer the most serious injury of all, thus devaluing the lives of victims who are not high wage earners and perpetuating societal disadvantage. This session will discuss the disparate impact of NY's wrongful death damages law, and the need for legal change to alleviate the problem.