A New York jury awards $400,000 in total damages and finds the plaintiff 75% at fault. Under pure comparative negligence, how much may the plaintiff recover?

$100,000. Pure comparative negligence reduces the award by the plaintiff's fault percentage without any cutoff. A 75% at-fault plaintiff still recovers the remaining 25%: $400,000 × 0.25 = $100,000. Only modified-comparative states would bar recovery above 50% fault.

Under CPLR Article 16, how is a defendant who is 40% at fault treated for ECONOMIC damages?

Still jointly and severally liable for the full economic damages. Article 16 limits liability only for NON-economic damages and only when a defendant is 50% or less at fault. Economic damages such as medical bills and lost wages remain fully joint and several regardless of the defendant's fault share, so a 40%-at-fault defendant can be made to pay all economic damages.

Which statement about insuring punitive damages in New York is accurate?

Punitive damages based on vicarious liability are generally insurable, but a defendant's own intentional misconduct is not. New York public policy permits insuring punitive damages arising from vicarious liability (such as an employer answering for an employee) but prohibits indemnifying a defendant for that defendant's own intentional or malicious wrongdoing. The blanket statements are therefore incorrect.

New York General Liability Insurance — Free Study Guide 2026

Key Takeaways

New York follows pure comparative negligence: a plaintiff's recovery is reduced by their fault percentage but never barred, even at 99% fault.
CPLR Article 16 (Section 1601) limits a tortfeasor 50% or less at fault to their equitable share of NON-economic damages; economic damages stay joint and several.
Most commercial liability rates must be filed with DFS; many lines require prior approval before use.
New York public policy permits insuring punitive damages based on vicarious liability, but not a wrongdoer's own intentional misconduct.
Products-liability and most personal-injury actions carry a three-year statute of limitations from the date of injury.

Pure Comparative Negligence

New York is a pure comparative negligence state (CPLR Article 14-A, Section 1411). A plaintiff's damages are reduced by their own percentage of fault, but recovery is never completely barred — even a plaintiff who is 99% responsible may still collect the remaining 1% from other at-fault parties. This contrasts sharply with contributory negligence states (where any plaintiff fault bars recovery) and modified comparative states (where 50% or 51% fault bars recovery).

Allocation Examples

Plaintiff Fault	Defendant Fault	Plaintiff Recovers
20%	80%	80% of damages
60%	40%	40% of damages
99%	1%	1% of damages

Worked example: A jury values damages at $500,000 and finds the plaintiff 30% at fault. The plaintiff's recoverable award is $500,000 × (1 − 0.30) = $350,000. There is no threshold below which fault bars the claim, so even a heavily at-fault plaintiff keeps a proportional share. Producers should understand this when explaining why high liability limits matter: a defendant's small fault percentage can still attach to a large verdict.

Joint and Several Liability — CPLR Article 16

At common law, any defendant could be made to pay the entire judgment. New York's CPLR Article 16 (Section 1601) modifies that rule for non-economic damages (pain and suffering, loss of consortium):

Defendant's Share of Fault	Liability for Economic Damages	Liability for Non-Economic Damages
More than 50%	Joint and several (full amount)	Joint and several (full amount)
50% or less	Still joint and several	Several only — pays equitable share

Key points the exam tests:

Economic damages (medical bills, lost wages) remain fully joint and several regardless of a defendant's percentage. Article 16 protection does not apply to them.
A defendant 50% or less at fault pays only its proportional share of non-economic loss.
Article 16 does not apply to wrongful-death, intentional-tort, or motor-vehicle cases, among several statutory exceptions.

Scenario: A plaintiff wins $1,000,000 ($600,000 economic + $400,000 non-economic). Defendant X is 30% at fault but is the only solvent party. X owes the full $600,000 economic loss (joint and several) but only $120,000 (30% × $400,000) of the non-economic loss because X is under the 50% line.

Rate Regulation, Punitive Damages, and Limitations

Commercial Liability Rate Regulation

Commercial general liability (CGL) and most casualty lines are rate-regulated by DFS under Insurance Law Article 23:

Rates must be filed and may not be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory.
Many lines use prior approval (rates effective only after DFS review); some commercial lines qualify for file-and-use flexibility.
Advisory organizations such as ISO file loss costs; individual insurers add their own expense and profit (loss-cost multiplier).
Policies must disclose occurrence vs. claims-made triggers, the coverage territory, per-occurrence and aggregate limits, and whether defense costs erode limits.
An occurrence policy responds to injury that happens during the policy period regardless of when the claim is filed; a claims-made policy responds only if the claim is reported while coverage (or its extended reporting period/"tail") is in force.

Punitive Damages — Insurable in Limited Cases

Situation	Insurable in NY?
Defendant's own intentional/malicious conduct	No — public policy bars indemnifying one's own wrongdoing
Vicarious liability (e.g., employer for employee)	Yes — generally permitted
Gross negligence (no intent)	Often yes, depending on policy language

This nuance corrects a common oversimplification: New York does not flatly allow insuring all punitive damages.

Statutes of Limitations

Claim Type	Period
Personal injury / negligence	3 years
Products liability	3 years from injury (discovery rule for toxic exposure)
Property damage	3 years
Medical malpractice	2.5 years
Breach of written contract	6 years

Medical malpractice (2.5 years) is the standout shorter period and a frequent distractor against the general 3-year injury rule.

Products Liability Theories

New York recognizes three overlapping routes to recovery against a manufacturer or seller, and a producer placing products coverage should understand all three:

Theory	Basis	Defendant's Exposure
Strict products liability	Manufacturing, design, or warning defect — no proof of negligence needed	Anyone in the distribution chain (maker, distributor, retailer)
Negligence	Failure to use reasonable care in design, manufacture, or warning	The negligent party
Breach of warranty	Express promise or implied merchantability/fitness fails	The seller under UCC Article 2

Under strict liability the plaintiff need only show the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous and that the defect caused the injury — fault is irrelevant. This is why commercial general liability (CGL) products-completed-operations coverage and umbrella limits are central to manufacturers' risk programs. The products-completed-operations aggregate is a separate limit from the general aggregate, a distinction producers must explain when quoting CGL.

Exam tip: Match the theory to the proof. Strict liability = no fault needed; negligence = reasonable-care failure; warranty = a broken promise. The three-year personal-injury statute runs from the date of injury, with a discovery rule extending toxic-exposure claims.

New York Property & Casualty Insurance

3.2 New York General Liability Insurance