By Gersh Kuntzman
Trial lawyers are shooting down this trial balloon.
Attorneys who fight to ensure that crash victims receive adequate compensation for their life-changing injuries are slamming Gov. Hochul's latest video, posted on Friday, defending her proposal to reduce car insurance premiums as propaganda designed to protect the wealthy insurance industry from scrutiny and deny injured people full legal recourse.
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"This is a ruse funded by Big Tech and Uber to protect their pockets," said lawyer Daniel Flanzig. "No one is arguing that fraud doesn’t exist. ... Fraud exists in all insurance, and auto insurance fraud pails to that of Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Are the insurance companies willing to guarantee rate reductions in writing? Is Uber willing to guarantee a reduction in fares? I am sure they will not.
"This simply Uber and Big Tech pumping millions of dollars into the governor’s campaign," Flanzig added. "In the end, it's thousands of injured New Yorkers who will pay the price by not receiving just compensation and the cost of their medical bills being shifted away from the insurance companies and onto the taxpayers." (As Streetsblog reported, an initial round of questions that we sent to the governor's office was answered ... in the form of talking points that had been sent to the governor's office from Uber.)
Flanzig added that auto insurance companies are hardly cash-strapped and must soak their policyholders for every dollar. According to The Center for Justice & Democracy, a respected unit at the New York Law School, "the profits of these companies have ballooned to unprecedented levels due to two things: massive investment income and underwriting profits caused by the unrestrained price-gouging of policyholders. These companies place enormous importance on their ability to tout both developments to their shareholders and/or financial analysts. It is fantasy to expect that 'tort reform' will stop this. History clearly shows that it won’t."
Industry profits are soaring, the Center added. "S&P Market Intelligence reported in November 2025 that 'the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry had its best quarter in at least a quarter of a century — and maybe longer.'”
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