NY State Senate Bill 2025-S8137

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Consumer Protection Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 15, 2025	referred to consumer protection

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Consumer Protection
Law Section:: General Business Law
Laws Affected:: Add §393-dd, Gen Bus L

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Enacts the "civil justice protection act (CJPA)"; requires that no person shall waive a series of rights and procedures when purchasing goods and services.

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8137

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to enacting the
"civil justice protection act"

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill ensures that New Yorkers are not required to waive a series of
critical rights and procedures that have been long associated with New
York's fair and efficient civil justice system when purchasing goods and
services, including critical services such as health care services.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one entitles this bill the "Civil Justice Protection Act."

Section two of the bill adds a new section 399-c to the General Business
Law that:

(1) Defines terms to be used in the new section 399-c.

(2) Prohibits any written contract for the sale and purchase of goods
that requires or has the effect of requiring a person who enters into
the contract to:

(i) adjudicate a related dispute in New York in a forum located in a
state other than New York or in a foreign country;

(ix) adjudicate a related dispute that arises from an act occurring in
New York pursuant to the law of a state other than New York or pursuant
to the law of a foreign country;

(x) release any person from liability in a potentially covered dispute;

(xi) waive or limit the right to a jury trial to adjudicate a covered
dispute;

(xii) waive or limit the right of a person to participate in a class
action, collective action, or representative action to adjudicate a
covered dispute;

(xiii) waive or limit the ability of a person to obtain discovery from a
party or witness as provided by the New York Civil Practice Law And
Rules in a civil action to adjudicate a covered dispute;

(xiv) shorten or limit the statute of limitations applicable to a
covered dispute that is otherwise established by New York law; or

(xv) limit or restrict the availability of a person to obtain damages or
civil penalties in a civil action to adjudicate a cover0d)dispute,
including but not limited to an action filed under section 349'of the
General Business Law.

(3) Ensures that a violation of the section results in the nullification
of the offending provision in any contract; imposes a civil penalty on

businesses for violations to be enforced by the Attorney General; and
makes an exception for post-dispute settlement agreements.

Section two of the bill also contains a severability clause.

Section three of the bill states that the act shall take effect imme-
diately and only apply to contracts entered into after the effective
date of this legislation.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Businesses across the state are increasingly requiring New Yorkers to
waive and limit their rights to access and utilize New York's civil
justice system in a plethora of ways as a condition of purchasing goods
and services, including the purchase of necessary and lifesaving medical
services. Businesses are doing this by slipping such waivers and
restrictions in long written contracts or click-through agreements on
websites and smartphones that, by all accounts, few, if any, read.

New York State has a public policy interest in ensuring that its citi-
zens do not accidentally or ignorantly waive their rights to resolve
disputes in a fair or efficient manner when they purchase goods or
services.

Further, wrongdoing against New Yorkers as a whole cannot be discovered,
exposed, publicized when individual residents must adjudicate their
individual disputes in another state or a foreign country; when they
cannot initiate or participate in a class action; when they cannot use
civil justice procedures to discover wrongful conduct; when they must
bring a dispute in a private, secret forum; when they must forfeit the
right to a jury trial; and when they cannot seek redress for injuries at
all.

This bill thus secures critical and long-established legal rights and
procedural protections of New Yorkers who may be financially or
personally injured in connection with the purchase of goods and
services.

An individual, of course, can waive these rights and protections. But
doing so should not be a requirement to participate in modern commercial
society or to receive critical services such as health care services.
And the proliferation of businesses imposing this ancillary requirement
on individual New Yorkers - who simply want to purchase goods and
services -- is leading to the spread and permanence of societal ills and
harms that threaten us all.

Thus, the bill is necessary to ensure that frauds, dangerous goods,
services delivered in a negligent or wrongful manner, and other harms
and injuries in connection with the purchase of such goods and services,
are discovered, exposed, publicized to the public and to government
officials -- and stopped.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

N/A

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate.

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8137
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 15, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection
 
 AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation  to  enacting  the
   "civil justice protection act"
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
 the "civil justice protection act (CJPA)".
   §  2. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 393-
 dd to read as follows:
   § 393-DD. THE CIVIL JUSTICE PROTECTION ACT. 1.  DEFINITIONS.  FOR  THE
 PURPOSES  OF  THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE THE FOLLOWING
 MEANINGS:
   (A) "PERSON" SHALL MEAN A NATURAL PERSON RESIDING  IN  THIS  STATE  OR
 PURCHASING PERSONAL GOODS OR SERVICES IN THIS STATE.
   (B)  "PERSONAL GOODS OR SERVICES" SHALL MEAN ANY: (I) GOODS, WARES, OR
 PAID MERCHANDISE THE INTENDED  USE  OR  BENEFIT  OF  WHICH  IS  FOR  THE
 PERSONAL,  FAMILY  OR HOUSEHOLD PURPOSE OF ANY PERSON; AND (II) SERVICES
 OF WHATEVER NATURE THE INTENDED USE OR BENEFIT  OF  WHICH  ARE  FOR  THE
 PERSONAL,  FAMILY  OR  HOUSEHOLD USE OR BENEFIT OF ANY PERSON, INCLUDING
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO MEDICAL SERVICES, ASSISTED LIVING SERVICES, OR  NURS-
 ING  HOME SERVICES. THIS TERM SHALL NOT MEAN GOODS OR SERVICES PURCHASED
 OR SOLD FOR THE USE OR BENEFIT OF A  BUSINESS  OR  FOR  THE  PURPOSE  OF
 ENGAGING IN BUSINESS ACTIVITY.
   (C)  "COVERED  DISPUTE" SHALL MEAN A DISPUTE ARISING OUT OF A CONTRACT
 OR AGREEMENT BETWEEN A PERSON AND THE SELLER  OR  PROVIDER  OF  PERSONAL
 GOODS  OR  SERVICES,  OR  OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE PROVISION OF SUCH
 SERVICES.
   2. PROHIBITIONS. (A) NO WRITTEN CONTRACT FOR THE SALE OR  PURCHASE  OF
 PERSONAL  GOODS  OR  SERVICES,  ENTERED INTO AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13151-01-5
 S. 8137                             2

 
 THIS SECTION, TO WHICH A PERSON IS A PARTY, SHALL CONTAIN A CLAUSE  THAT
 REQUIRES OR THAT HAS THE EFFECT OF REQUIRING SUCH PERSON TO:
   (I)  ADJUDICATE A COVERED DISPUTE THAT ARISES FROM AN ACT OCCURRING IN
 NEW YORK IN A FORUM LOCATED IN A STATE OTHER  THAN  NEW  YORK  OR  IN  A
 FOREIGN COUNTRY;
   (II) ADJUDICATE A COVERED DISPUTE THAT ARISES FROM AN ACT OCCURRING IN
 NEW  YORK PURSUANT TO THE LAW OF A STATE OTHER THAN NEW YORK OR PURSUANT
 TO THE LAW OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY;
   (III) RELEASE  ANY  PERSON  FROM  LIABILITY  IN  A  POTENTIAL  COVERED
 DISPUTE;
   (IV)  WAIVE OR LIMIT THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL TO ADJUDICATE A COVERED
 DISPUTE;
   (V) WAIVE OR LIMIT THE RIGHT OF A PERSON TO  PARTICIPATE  IN  A  CLASS
 ACTION,  COLLECTIVE  ACTION,  OR  REPRESENTATIVE  ACTION TO ADJUDICATE A
 COVERED DISPUTE;
   (VI) WAIVE OR LIMIT THE ABILITY OF A PERSON TO OBTAIN DISCOVERY FROM A
 PARTY OR WITNESS AS PROVIDED BY THE NEW  YORK  CIVIL  PRACTICE  LAW  AND
 RULES IN A CIVIL ACTION TO ADJUDICATE A COVERED DISPUTE;
   (VII)  SHORTEN  OR  LIMIT  THE  STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS APPLICABLE TO A
 COVERED DISPUTE THAT IS OTHERWISE ESTABLISHED BY THE LAWS OF THIS STATE;
 OR
   (VIII) LIMIT OR RESTRICT  THE  AVAILABILITY  OF  A  PERSON  TO  OBTAIN
 DAMAGES  OR  CIVIL  PENALTIES  IN A CIVIL ACTION TO ADJUDICATE A COVERED
 DISPUTE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO  AN  ACTION  FILED  UNDER  SECTION
 THREE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE OF THIS CHAPTER.
   (B)  ANY  PROVISION  OF  A  CONTRACT ENTERED INTO IN VIOLATION OF THIS
 SECTION IS NULL, VOID, AND UNENFORCEABLE.
   (C) A BUSINESS VIOLATING THIS SECTION SHALL  BE  LIABLE  FOR  A  CIVIL
 PENALTY  OF  FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR THE FIRST OFFENSE AND ONE THOUSAND
 DOLLARS FOR EACH OFFENSE THEREAFTER.
   (D) WHENEVER THERE SHALL BE A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION,  AN  APPLICA-
 TION  MAY  BE  MADE BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF
 THE STATE OF NEW YORK TO A COURT OR JUSTICE HAVING JURISDICTION TO ISSUE
 AN INJUNCTION, AND UPON NOTICE TO THE DEFENDANT OF NOT  LESS  THAN  FIVE
 DAYS,  TO ENJOIN AND RESTRAIN THE CONTINUANCE OF SUCH VIOLATIONS; AND IF
 IT SHALL APPEAR TO THE SATISFACTION OF THE COURT OR  JUSTICE,  THAT  THE
 DEFENDANT  HAS,  IN  FACT,  VIOLATED  THIS  SECTION AN INJUNCTION MAY BE
 ISSUED BY SUCH COURT OR JUSTICE ENJOINING AND  RESTRAINING  ANY  FURTHER
 VIOLATION,  WITHOUT  REQUIRING  PROOF THAT ANY PERSON HAS, IN FACT, BEEN
 INJURED OR DAMAGED THEREBY.
   (E) THIS SECTION SHALL NOT APPLY TO ANY POST-DISPUTE SETTLEMENT AGREE-
 MENTS.
   3. SEVERABILITY. IF ANY PROVISION OF THIS SECTION OR  THE  APPLICATION
 THEREOF  TO  ANY PERSON OR CIRCUMSTANCE IS HELD INVALID, SUCH INVALIDITY
 SHALL NOT AFFECT OTHER PROVISIONS OR APPLICATIONS OF THIS  SECTION  THAT
 CAN BE GIVEN EFFECT WITHOUT THE INVALID PROVISION OR APPLICATION, AND TO
 THIS END THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION ARE DECLARED TO BE SEVERABLE.
   §  3.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall only apply to
 contracts entered into after the effective date of this act.

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Senate Bill S8137

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Consumer Protection Committee

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S8137

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Sponsored By

Leroy Comrie

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Consumer Protection Committee

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S8137 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments