Race is off-limits factor in wrongful death case
From: Federal Judge Blasts Use of Statistics on Race to Set Damages in Ferry Crash, Anthony Lin, New York Law Journal, October 15, 2008
A Brooklyn federal judge has slammed the use of statistics showing racial differences in life expectancy to determine damages for a catastrophically injured black man.James McMillan was rendered a quadriplegic in the 2003 crash of the New York City-operated Staten Island Ferry. Last month, Eastern District of New York Judge Jack B. Weinstein awarded McMillan damages of $18.3 million.
The city had sought to limit McMillan's damages on a number of grounds, arguing that his past criminal records as much as his race indicated a shorter life expectancy. But Weinstein indicated during trial he would issue a written decision further explaining his reasoning on the race issue.
Issuing that decision Tuesday, Weinstein said the consideration of statistical differences in life expectancy among races in determining damages would be discriminatory and unconstitutional. He noted that a wrongheaded insistence on immutable racial differences had been behind the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), which upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal.""Statistical reliance on 'race' leads to such questions as whether Plessy would have been today categorized as 'African American' for life expectancy purposes,"
Weinstein wrote. "In a more recent example, 'racially' characterizing for statistical purposes in a negligence lawsuit the current Democrat Party presidential candidate, born of a 'White' American mother and an 'African' citizen of Kenya, would be considered absurd by most Americans."
The judge also said racial statistics should be rejected on scientific grounds, and he approvingly cited a number of well-known anthropologists who regard race as a social construct rather than a biological fact."Reliance on 'race'-based statistics in estimating life expectancy of individuals for purposes of calculating damages is not scientifically acceptable in our current heterogeneous population,"
Weinstein wrote in McMillan v. City of New York, 03 civ. 6049.Though the judge acknowledged a documented mortality gap between blacks and whites, he said the gap likely owed much to socioeconomic factors masked as "race."
He noted some studies indicating that blacks and whites of equivalent socioeconomic status enjoyed similar longevity.Weinstein said that courts had increasingly moved toward race- and gender-neutral calculations of damages, and observed that racial differences were ignored by Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg in his administration of the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.The Corporation Counsel's Office declined to comment on Weinstein's decision.
A Brooklyn federal judge has slammed the use of statistics showing racial differences in life expectancy to determine damages for a catastrophically injured black man.James McMillan was rendered a quadriplegic in the 2003 crash of the New York City-operated Staten Island Ferry. Last month, Eastern District of New York Judge Jack B. Weinstein awarded McMillan damages of $18.3 million.
The city had sought to limit McMillan's damages on a number of grounds, arguing that his past criminal records as much as his race indicated a shorter life expectancy. But Weinstein indicated during trial he would issue a written decision further explaining his reasoning on the race issue.
Issuing that decision Tuesday, Weinstein said the consideration of statistical differences in life expectancy among races in determining damages would be discriminatory and unconstitutional. He noted that a wrongheaded insistence on immutable racial differences had been behind the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), which upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal.""Statistical reliance on 'race' leads to such questions as whether Plessy would have been today categorized as 'African American' for life expectancy purposes,"
Weinstein wrote. "In a more recent example, 'racially' characterizing for statistical purposes in a negligence lawsuit the current Democrat Party presidential candidate, born of a 'White' American mother and an 'African' citizen of Kenya, would be considered absurd by most Americans."
The judge also said racial statistics should be rejected on scientific grounds, and he approvingly cited a number of well-known anthropologists who regard race as a social construct rather than a biological fact."Reliance on 'race'-based statistics in estimating life expectancy of individuals for purposes of calculating damages is not scientifically acceptable in our current heterogeneous population,"
Weinstein wrote in McMillan v. City of New York, 03 civ. 6049.Though the judge acknowledged a documented mortality gap between blacks and whites, he said the gap likely owed much to socioeconomic factors masked as "race."
He noted some studies indicating that blacks and whites of equivalent socioeconomic status enjoyed similar longevity.Weinstein said that courts had increasingly moved toward race- and gender-neutral calculations of damages, and observed that racial differences were ignored by Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg in his administration of the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.The Corporation Counsel's Office declined to comment on Weinstein's decision.
Labels: Damage awards, damages, discrimination, Life Care plan, life expectancy, statistical evidence, wrongful death
posted by The Experts @ 4:49 PM
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