Bill Text: NY S00412 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Permits a plaintiff to recover directly against a third party defendant found to be liable to the defendant in certain actions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-04-11 - PRINT NUMBER 412A [S00412 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S00412-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 412--A 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 4, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sen. DeFRANCISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary -- recom- mitted to the Committee on Judiciary in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to permit- ting a plaintiff to recover against a third party defendant in certain cases The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new 2 section 1405 to read as follows: 3 § 1405. Permitting plaintiff, as judgment creditor against defendant, 4 to recover and collect unsatisfied judgment or portion of judgment 5 against third-party defendant or co-defendant liable for contribution or 6 indemnification. (a) Where a plaintiff has entered a judgment against a 7 defendant and the judgment remains unsatisfied thirty days after it has 8 been served on the defendant-judgment debtor, and where judgment has 9 been entered in favor of the defendant-judgment debtor against a co-de- 10 fendant or third-party defendant on a cause of action for contribution 11 or for contractual or common law indemnification, the plaintiff-judgment 12 creditor may collect any unsatisfied amount of the plaintiff's judgment 13 against the defendant from the co-defendant or third-party defendant up 14 to the amount awarded on the cause of action for contribution or indem- 15 nification. 16 (b) Where the plaintiff's judgment remains unsatisfied thirty days 17 after it has been served on the defendant-judgment debtor, and where the 18 defendant-judgment debtor has a cause of action for contribution or for 19 contractual or common law indemnification which has not been reduced to 20 judgment, the plaintiff-judgment creditor may attach, or take an assign- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02845-02-8S. 412--A 2 1 ment from the defendant-judgment debtor of, the cause of action for 2 contribution or indemnification, and prosecute the cause of action in 3 the plaintiff's own name or in the name of the defendant-judgment 4 debtor, and recover a judgment therein for the same amount of contrib- 5 ution or indemnification as would be awarded to the defendant-judgment 6 debtor if the defendant-judgment debtor had satisfied plaintiff's 7 original judgment in full. Such remedy is in addition to any other means 8 available to the plaintiff-judgment debtor for enforcement of the judg- 9 ment. This section shall not authorize direct recovery against a third- 10 party defendant in those circumstances in which the third-party claim 11 against that third-party defendant would have been barred by the 12 provisions of section eleven of the workers' compensation law, and does 13 not otherwise permit a plaintiff to bring a cause of action against a 14 third party if such third party was the plaintiff's employer at the time 15 of the incident or injury. 16 (c) The plaintiff-judgment creditor may enforce the rights provided in 17 subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section notwithstanding that the plain- 18 tiff-judgment creditor's judgment against defendant-judgment debtor has 19 been or may be discharged in bankruptcy and/or the defendant-judgment 20 debtor's cause of action for indemnity or contribution against the 21 third-party defendant or co-defendant has been or may be extinguished by 22 a discharge in bankruptcy granted to the defendant-judgment debtor; 23 provided, however, that if a plaintiff-judgment creditor is enforcing 24 the rights provided in subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section pursuant 25 to this subdivision, he or she does not need attachment or assignment 26 from the defendant-judgment debtor of the cause of action for contrib- 27 ution or indemnification. 28 (d) Where the plaintiff's judgment remains unsatisfied thirty days 29 after it has been served on the defendant-judgment debtor, and where the 30 defendant-judgment debtor's cause of action for contribution or for 31 contractual or common law indemnification can no longer be prosecuted or 32 reduced to judgment, the plaintiff-judgment creditor may enforce its 33 judgment against the defendant-judgment debtor in a direct action 34 against the third-party defendant or co-defendant liable for contrib- 35 ution or indemnification, and recover a judgment therein for the same 36 amount of contribution or indemnification as would be awarded to the 37 defendant-judgment debtor if the defendant-judgment debtor had satisfied 38 plaintiff's original judgment in full. 39 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall apply to all 40 unexpired judgments that have not been fully satisfied as of such effec- 41 tive date.
