Bill Text: NY A10762 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes a cause of action for medical monitoring for a person with or without a present injury or disease and establishes a statute of limitation for such cause of action.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-09 - referred to judiciary [A10762 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A10762-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10762

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      July 9, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE  ON  RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Niou) --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

        AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law and the  civil  prac-
          tice  law and rules, in relation to establishing a cause of action for
          medical monitoring

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a
     2  new section 37-0116 to read as follows:
     3  § 37-0116. Cause of action for medical monitoring.
     4    1. For the purpose of this section, the following terms shall have the
     5  following meanings:
     6    (a) "exposure" shall have the same meaning set forth  in  section  two
     7  hundred fourteen-c of the civil practice law and rules.
     8    (b) "toxic substance" shall mean:
     9    (i)  any  chemical  or biological substance that poses a risk to human
    10  health as defined by the commissioner pursuant  to  section  37-0103  of
    11  this title;
    12    (ii)  any  substance  categorized  as toxic or hazardous by the United
    13  States environmental protection agency or the United States  agency  for
    14  toxic  substance  and  disease  registry  shall  be a hazardous or toxic
    15  substance; and
    16    (iii) any substance not so characterized may be proven to be toxic  by
    17  a preponderance of the evidence.
    18    (c)  "release"  shall mean any intentional or unintentional, permitted
    19  or unpermitted, act or omission that allows a toxic substance  to  enter
    20  the  air, land, surface water, groundwater, or any other place where the
    21  toxic substance may be located.
    22    (d) "medical monitoring" shall mean a program of medical surveillance,
    23  including medical tests or procedures for the purpose of early detection
    24  of signs or symptoms of latent disease resulting from exposure.
    25    (e) "latent disease" shall mean any condition that negatively  affects
    26  human  health by causing death or permanent or protracted loss of mental

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15751-02-0
        A. 10762                            2

     1  or physical function which a person has a significantly  increased  risk
     2  of contracting.
     3    (f) "reasonably necessary" shall mean the standard whereby a physician
     4  would  prescribe  testing for the purpose of detecting or monitoring the
     5  latent disease.
     6    (g) "person" shall mean an individual, firm, corporation, association,
     7  partnership,  consortium,  joint  venture,  commercial  entity,  federal
     8  government,  state,  municipality, commission, political subdivision, or
     9  any interstate body.
    10    2. A person with or without a present injury or disease shall  have  a
    11  cause  of  action  for  medical  monitoring damages against a person who
    12  released a toxic substance if all of the following are demonstrated by a
    13  preponderance of the evidence:
    14    (a) the person may have been exposed  to  the  toxic  substance  as  a
    15  result  of the unauthorized release by the person who released the toxic
    16  substance;
    17    (b) there is a probable link between exposure to the  toxic  substance
    18  and a latent disease;
    19    (c) the person's exposure to the toxic substance increases the risk of
    20  developing  the  latent  disease, provided that such person shall not be
    21  required to prove that the latent disease is certain or likely to devel-
    22  op as a result of the exposure;
    23    (d) diagnostic testing is reasonably necessary; and
    24    (e) medical tests or procedures exist to detect the latent disease.
    25    3. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the  pursuit
    26  of  any  other  civil  or  injunctive  remedy available under statute or
    27  common law, including the right of any person  to  recover  for  damages
    28  related  to the manifestation of a latent disease.  The remedies in this
    29  section are in addition to  those  provided  by  existing  statutory  or
    30  common law.
    31    4.  This  section  does  not  preclude a court from certifying a class
    32  action for medical monitoring damages.
    33    § 2. The civil practice law and rules  is  amended  by  adding  a  new
    34  section 214-i to read as follows:
    35    §  214-i. Cause of action for medical monitoring.  Notwithstanding any
    36  provision of law to the contrary, a cause of action for medical monitor-
    37  ing pursuant to section 37-0116 of the environmental  conservation  law,
    38  may  be commenced by the plaintiff within the period allowed pursuant to
    39  section two hundred fourteen-c of this article or within one year of the
    40  effective date of this section.
    41    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.