Yesterday I met with Assembly Member, Michael Cusick, in his District Office to discuss proposed legislation that affects the rights of injured persons.

The new legislative session will (as always) be a battle to create bills that are intended to protect the rights of persons injured due to Medical malpractice, automobile liability, work-related injuries, and other general liability accidents.  Many interest groups on behalf of Big Business and insurance companies are always attacking the rights of injured persons for the sake of profit.  It is incumbent upon citizens to remind our legislators how important it is to protect the worker, the victim of medical malpractice, and others who are injured due to accidents.

Assembly Member Cusick is respectful of the Common Man, the Working man, the Family Man.  The people who reflect his district are hard working individuals whose lives would be negatively impacted by an injury that causes them to be unable to work and perform their daily life activities.

The next session in Albany will include discussions about the tolling of the Statute of Limitations in Medical Malpractice to begin at the time of reasonable discovery of the malpractice.  The classic example is when a woman undergoes an Mammography and then later discovers that her cancer went undiagnosed.   If the late diagnosis is past the 2 1/2 year Statute of Limitations, the patient has lost her right to sue.

Another bill that will be a topic of debate is the Bad Faith bill which would require insurers to disclose their policy limits in a timely manner, to be transparent about their intention to deny a claim, to not make unreasonable offers, etc.  As a Staten Island resident, we are all well aware of the horrific treatment that many of our fellow Islanders received after Hurricane Sandy from unscrupulous insurance companies.

I am fighting for my clients not only in a courtroom, but also in the state capital to protect their rights.  Mike Cusick is a person who takes his responsibility very seriously and uses his influence to protect the rights if injured persons.