ALBANY -- New York's top court ruled Thursday that Canada's limit on damages for pain and suffering applies to claims against the Canadian charter bus company and driver deemed 90 percent liable for the 2005 crash that killed three passengers traveling with an Ontario women's youth hockey team.
But the Court of Appeals said New York's law with no limit on damages applies to the Pennsylvania company whose tractor-trailer parked on the highway shoulder was hit by the bus in western New York, killing the truck driver. The trucking defendants were deemed 10 percent responsible.
Dissenting judges in the 5-2 ruling said it allows for "a patently absurd result" where the truckers could pay more despite having only 10 percent liability, and New York laws should apply to both groups.
The bus was carrying the Canadian youth hockey team from Windsor, Ontario, when it swerved off Interstate 390 about 30 miles south of Rochester in January 2005. Another 19 people on the bus were injured.
Last year, a Livingston County jury awarded $2.25 million in damages to three injured passengers after a six-day trial. Several other damages cases are pending.
The rules for tort liability "with multi-state contacts" require examining each party individually to determine which laws apply, according to the court majority.
"In lawsuits brought in New York by Ontario-domiciled plaintiffs against Ontario-domiciled defendants, New York courts should respect Ontario's decision, which differs from but certainly does not offend New York's public policy," Judge Susan Read wrote. The injured and killed were Canadians, as were the bus company and driver, so under Canada's laws that means caps on noneconomic damages that were about $310,000 two years ago.
But with the Canadian plaintiffs and the Pennsylvania defendants, New York's law governs damages for the New York crash, the court concluded.
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