24 November 2021: Bill Establishing $4 Billion Compensation Fund for NY COVID Nursing Home Victims

$4B COVID fund proposed for nursing home victims

On 17 November 2021, NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) introduced legislation setting up a compensation fund for the families of nursing home residents who died from COVID during the period Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect.

Legislator Ron Kim, a noted critic of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 nursing home policies, is proposing a $4 billion compensation fund for civil claims arising from personal injuries or the death of nursing home residents in New York due to COVID-19.

Kim, D-Flushing, recently introduced A.8489, the Justice for Nursing Home Victims Act, in the Assembly. Thus far, Kim’s legislation isn’t getting much support from his fellow legislators — there is not yet companion legislation in the state Senate and the bill has no co-sponsors in the Assembly.

The Justice for Nursing Home Victims Act would amend the Public Health Law to establish a Nursing Home Resident COVID-19 Compensation Program, creating a commission to administer the compensation program and procedures for disbursing damages compensation to the estates of individuals who are eligible by law to claim damages. Eligible individuals would include the residents of nursing homes as well as those temporarily admitted for subacute care and rehabilitation.

Kim also proposes reversing any public policy that limits the liability of nursing homes while amending the Public Health Law to designate responsibilities for nursing homes during a pandemic and explicitly holding nursing homes liable for negligence resulting in the wrongful death of residents.

Lastly, the legislation amends the state Civil Practice Law to allow civil claims or causes of action related to personal injury or death to be filed for up to two years after the legislation takes effect, if it is passed.

Kim previously proposed the $4 billion fund back on 30 September 2021. The new development here is introduction of the A8489 bill encoding the proposal into legalese that the New York Assembly may vote upon. The bill is in committee at this writing.