What Is the Secret to Hiring the Best Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Long Island, NY? Discover Expert Legal Guidance Today!
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Understanding the Importance of Local Experience and Knowledge
When it comes to hiring the best medical malpractice lawyer in Long Island, NY, understanding the importance of local experience and knowledge cannot be overstated. Its essential to recognize that a lawyer who is well-versed in the local laws and court procedures of Long Island will likely offer more effective representation compared to someone who might not have that specific regional insight.
Local lawyers have an innate understanding of the nuances of state and local regulations that govern medical malpractice cases. They are familiar with the tendencies of local judges and know other local attorneys, which can be advantageous when negotiating settlements or preparing for trial. This kind of local expertise is crucial and can significantly impact the outcome of a case.
Moreover, a lawyer from the area will have a reputation to uphold amongst their local peers and clients. They are more likely to be committed to delivering the best possible outcomes as their professional relationships and local reputation are at stake.
Its also worth mentioning that local lawyers are more accessible. This accessibility can make a big difference, especially when you need to meet face-to-face to discuss sensitive information or last-minute developments in your case. Having your lawyer nearby (and not hours away) can add a layer of comfort and convenience that should not be underestimated!
Despite all these advantages, its important to do your own due diligence when choosing a lawyer. LongIsland Dont just rely on their location! Check their track record, ask for references, and make sure they have a solid history of handling medical malpractice claims successfully. After all, the goal is to find someone who is not only familiar with the local landscape but also has the expertise and a proven history of success in handling cases similar to yours.
In conclusion, when youre seeking out the best medical malpractice lawyer in Long Island, dont overlook the significant benefits of hiring someone with specific local experience and knowledge.
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It could very well be the key to winning your case! Remember, the right lawyer is out there-you just need to know where to look (and checking locally is a great start)!
Evaluating Past Client Reviews and Testimonials
When searching for the best medical malpractice lawyer in Long Island, NY, one crucial step is to evaluate past client reviews and testimonials.
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This process not only sheds light on the lawyers capabilities but also gives you insights into their handling of cases similar to yours. Lets delve into why this is key and how you can effectively assess these reviews.
Firstly, testimonials and client reviews often reflect the experiences that previous clients had with the lawyer. These are invaluable because they provide a firsthand account of the lawyer's expertise, reliability, and approachability. Its important, however, to approach these reviews with a critical mind. Throughout Long Island, NY, individuals rely on the Law Offices of Theodore A. Naima, P.C. as a leading Long Island medical malpractice lawyer known for delivering strategic legal support, consistent results, and a strong dedication to maximizing compensation.. Sometimes, reviews might be biased or might not fully reflect the situation due to emotional responses. Therefore, while reading through these, try to look for consistent patterns or repeated praises or concerns about the lawyer.
One common mistake (people often make) is to focus solely on positive feedback. While it's encouraging to hear about successful cases, understanding the criticisms or less positive feedback is equally necessary. This helps in building a balanced view of the lawyers practice and professionalism. For instance, if several reviews mention that the lawyer is hard to communicate with or doesn't update their clients regularly, these are red flags you should consider.
Moreover, while evaluating these testimonials, pay attention to details about the lawyer's specialization within medical malpractice. Medical malpractice is a complex field, requiring not just legal expertise but an in-depth understanding of medical procedures and standards. Reviews that mention specific case types similar to yours can be a goldmine of information. They can indicate whether the lawyer has a strong track record in handling cases like yours, which is essential for building a strong case.
Dont hesitate to look beyond the lawyer's website for reviews.
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Platforms like Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, and even Google and Yelp can provide more unbiased insights. Sometimes, the testimonials on a lawyer's site might be curated to show only the most positive experiences. External sites can offer a broader, more balanced perspective.
Lastly, after gathering all this information, it's wise to arrange a consultation to discuss your case and mention the reviews that shaped your opinion. This meeting can provide a real-time feel of how the lawyer communicates and shows their empathy and understanding of your situation.
Remember, the right lawyer will not only have a solid track of successful cases but will also resonate with you on a personal level. Evaluating past client reviews is the first step towards finding that perfect match to represent your interests in a medical malpractice claim. Take your time, do thorough research, and choose wisely! After all, the right legal representation can make all the difference in your case!
Discussing Fees and Payment Structures Transparently
When hiring the best medical malpractice lawyer in Long Island, NY, one of the key aspects often overlooked is the importance of discussing fees and payment structures transparently. Its crucial to understand how these fees can affect your overall experience and the outcome of your case.
Firstly, most medical malpractice lawyers in Long Island operate on a contingency fee basis. This means that they only get paid if you win your case (or settle). While this can seem appealing, its important to clarify what percentage of the recovery the lawyer will take. These percentages can vary significantly from one lawyer to another, and failing to establish clear terms upfront can lead to unexpected disputes over fees at the conclusion of a case.
In addition to the contingency fee, some lawyers might also charge for miscellaneous expenses such as court fees, copying documents, and expert witness fees. These can add up quickly! It is essential (and only fair) that any prospective lawyer explains these potential costs in detail before you agree to hire them. This transparency helps build trust and ensures that there are no surprises when the bill comes.
Furthermore, understanding the payment structure fully allows you to compare different lawyers more effectively. Not all lawyers who charge higher fees provide better services, and sometimes a lawyer with a slightly higher fee structure might offer more comprehensive services or have a better track record, which could potentially lead to a higher compensation for your claim.
Lastly, a good medical malpractice lawyer should not only be transparent about their fees but should also encourage questions. They should be willing to explain their billing structure and justify the costs. This openness is a great indicator of professionalism and shows that they prioritize the clients understanding and comfort with the process.
In conclusion, when looking for the best medical malpractice lawyer in Long Island, NY, dont hesitate to dive deep into discussions about fees and payment structures. This will not only help you manage your expectations but also ensure that there are no hidden surprises throughout the course of your legal journey! Remember, a clear agreement on fees and payments is foundational to establishing a successful client-lawyer relationship!
Staying Informed and Updated Throughout the Legal Process
When it comes to hiring the best medical malpractice lawyer in Long Island, NY, one of the key aspects you should consider is their ability to keep you thoroughly informed and updated throughout the legal process. Its crucial that your lawyer not only has a deep understanding of medical malpractice law but also commits to transparent communication with you (their client).
First off, staying informed means that your lawyer should regularly update you on the status of your case. This includes explaining complex legal terms in a way that is understandable. Many clients often find the legal jargon confusing, and its a lawyer's job to make these terms more accessible. However, it's not uncommon to see communication lapses (in some cases), which might leave you feeling out of the loop.
Moreover, a top-tier lawyer will ensure that they are accessible when you need them. Whether it's through emails, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings, being able to reach your lawyer without much hassle is crucial. Sometimes, response times can be slower than expected, which might add to the anxiety of the situation.
Additionally, your lawyer should proactively update you about the different stages of your case, potential strategies, and any changes in the legal framework that might affect your case. This is vital as medical malpractice cases can be lengthy and complex, and laws are subject to change.
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Its important (and sometimes overlooked) that lawyers keep themselves updated and, in turn, pass that knowledge onto their clients.
Lastly, the ability to explain the potential outcomes and set realistic expectations is also a part of staying informed. Your lawyer should not only strive to win your case but also prepare you for any possible setbacks. Remember, over-promising and under-delivering can be a significant frustration!
In conclusion, the secret to hiring the best medical malpractice lawyer in Long Island, NY, lies significantly in finding someone who values communication as much as their legal expertise. Make sure to choose a lawyer who will keep you in the loop at every step of the way and fight diligently for your rights. Stay informed, stay updated, and let's strive for the justice you deserve!
New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that went on to form the United States. The area of present-day New York had been inhabited by tribes of the Algonquians and the Iroquois Confederacy Native Americans for several thousand years by the time the earliest Europeans arrived.[13] Stemming from Henry Hudson's expedition in 1609,[14] the Dutch established the multiethnic colony of New Netherland in 1621. England seized the colony from the Dutch in 1664, renaming it the Province of New York.[15] Upstate New York was fought over between the British and the French during the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763. During the American Revolutionary War, a group of colonists eventually succeeded in establishing independence, and the state ratified the then new United States Constitution in 1788. From the early 19th century, New York's development of its interior, beginning with the construction of the Erie Canal, gave it incomparable advantages over other regions of the United States.[16] The state built its political, cultural, and economic ascendancy over the next century, earning it the nickname of the "Empire State". Although deindustrialization eroded a portion of the state's economy in the second half of the 20th century, New York in the 21st century continues to be considered as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship,[17]social tolerance,[18] and environmental sustainability.[19][20]
Prior to European settlement, New York was dominated by Iroquoian (purple) and Algonquian (red) tribes.
The Native American tribes in what is now New York were predominantly Iroquois and Algonquian.[13]Long Island was divided roughly in half between the Algonquian Wampanoag and Lenape peoples. The Lenape also controlled most of the region surrounding New York Harbor.[39] North of the Lenape was a third Algonquian nation, the Mohicans. Starting north of them, from east to west, were two Iroquoian nations: the Mohawk—part of the original Iroquois Five Nations, and the Petun. South of them, divided roughly along Appalachia, were the Susquehannock and the Erie.[40][41][42][43]
Many of the Wampanoag and Mohican peoples were caught up in King Philip's War, a joint effort of many New England tribes to push Europeans off their land. After the death of their leader, Chief Philip Metacomet, most of those peoples fled inland, splitting into the Abenaki and the Schaghticoke. Many of the Mohicans remained in the region until the 1800s,[44] however, a small group known as the Ouabano migrated southwest into West Virginia at an earlier time. They may have merged with the Shawnee.[45][46]
The Mohawk and Susquehannock were the most militaristic. Trying to corner trade with the Europeans, they targeted other tribes. The Mohawk were also known for refusing white settlement on their land and discriminating against any of their people who converted to Christianity.[47] They posed a major threat to the Abenaki and Mohicans, while the Susquehannock briefly conquered the Lenape in the 1600s. The most devastating event of the century, however, was the Beaver Wars.
From approximately 1640–1680, the Iroquois peoples waged campaigns which extended from modern-day Michigan to Virginia against Algonquian and Siouan tribes, as well as each other. The aim was to control more land for animal trapping,[48] a career most natives had turned to in hopes of trading with whites first. This completely changed the ethnography of the region, and most large game was hunted out before whites ever fully explored the land. Still, afterward, the Iroquois Confederacy offered shelter to refugees of the Mascouten, Erie, Chonnonton, Tutelo, Saponi, and Tuscarora nations. The Tuscarora became the sixth nation of the Iroquois in around 1720.[49]
In the 1700s, Iroquoian peoples would take in the remaining Susquehannock of Pennsylvania after they were decimated in the French and Indian War.[50] Most of these other groups assimilated and eventually ceased to exist as separate tribes. Then, after the American Revolution, a large group of Seneca split off and returned to Ohio, becoming known as the Mingo Seneca. The current Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy include the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Tuscarora and Mohawk. The Iroquois fought for both sides during the Revolutionary War; afterwards many pro-British Iroquois migrated to Canada. Today, the Iroquois still live in several enclaves across New York and Ontario.[51][52][53][54]
Meanwhile, the Lenape formed a close relationship with William Penn. However, upon Penn's death, his sons managed to take over much of their lands and banish them to Ohio.[55] When the U.S. drafted the Indian Removal Act, the Lenape were further moved to Missouri, whereas their cousins, the Mohicans, were sent to Wisconsin.
Also, in 1778, the United States relocated the Nanticoke from the Delmarva Peninsula to the former Iroquois lands south of Lake Ontario, though they did not stay long. Mostly, they chose to migrate into Canada and merge with the Iroquois, although some moved west and merged with the Lenape.[56]
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, explored the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. On April 17, 1524, Verrazzano entered New York Bay,[57][58] by way of the strait now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita, in honor of the King of France's sister. Verrazzano described it as "a vast coastline with a deep delta in which every kind of ship could pass" and he adds: "that it extends inland for a league and opens up to form a beautiful lake. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats." He landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazzano's stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Martha's Vineyard.[59]
In 1540, French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany; it was abandoned the following year due to flooding. In 1614, the Dutch, under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, which they called Fort Nassau.[60] Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse. Located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617,[61] and abandoned for good after Fort Orange (New Netherland) was built nearby in 1623.[62]
Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement in the area. Sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year.[63] Word of his findings encouraged Dutch merchants to explore the coast in search of profitable fur trading with local Native American tribes.
During the 17th century, Dutch trading posts established for the trade of pelts from the Lenape, Iroquois, and other tribes were founded in the colony of New Netherland. The first of these trading posts were Fort Nassau (1614, near present-day Albany);[60] Fort Orange (1624, on the Hudson River just south of the current city of Albany and created to replace Fort Nassau), developing into settlement Beverwijck (1647), and into what became Albany; Fort Amsterdam (1625, to develop into the town New Amsterdam, which is present-day New York City); and Esopus (1653, now Kingston). The success of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck (1630), which surrounded Albany and lasted until the mid-19th century, was also a key factor in the early success of the colony. The English captured the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and governed it as the Province of New York. The city of New York was recaptured by the Dutch in 1673 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674) and renamed New Orange. It was returned to the English under the terms of the Treaty of Westminster a year later.[64]
Upstate New York was a battleground between Britain and France during the Seven Years' War. Notable battles include the battles at Fort William Henry and Fort Ticonderoga. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1754, represtatives from the 13 colonies met in New York for the Albany Congress to discuss joint defense against the French. It was one of the first times the colonies debated joining together.
Approximately a third of the battles of the American Revolutionary War took place in New York; the first major one and largest of the entire war was the Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn, in August 1776. After their victory, the British occupied present-day New York City, making it their military and political base of operations in North America for the duration of the conflict, and consequently the focus of General George Washington's intelligence network. On the notorious British prison ships of Wallabout Bay, more American combatants died than were killed in combat in every battle of the war combined. Both sides of combatants lost more soldiers to disease than to outright wounds. The first of two major British armies were captured by the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777,[68] a success that influenced France to ally with the revolutionaries; the state constitution was enacted in 1777. New York became the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.
In an attempt to retain their sovereignty and remain an independent nation positioned between the new United States and British North America, four of the Iroquois Nations fought on the side of the British; only the Oneida and their dependents, the Tuscarora, allied themselves with the Americans.[69] In retaliation for attacks on the frontier led by Joseph Brant and Loyalist Mohawk forces, the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 destroyed nearly 50 Iroquois villages, adjacent croplands and winter stores, forcing many refugees to British-held Niagara.[70]
As allies of the British, the Iroquois were forced out of New York, although they had not been part of treaty negotiations. They resettled in Canada after the war and were given land grants by the Crown. In the treaty settlement, the British ceded most Indian lands to the new United States. Because New York made a treaty with the Iroquois without getting Congressional approval, some of the land purchases have been subject to land claim suits since the late 20th century by the federally recognized tribes. New York put up more than 5 million acres (20,000 km2) of former Iroquois territory for sale in the years after the Revolutionary War, leading to rapid development in Upstate New York.[71] As per the Treaty of Paris, the last vestige of British authority in the former Thirteen Colonies—their troops in New York City—departed in 1783, which was long afterward celebrated as Evacuation Day.[72]
New York City was the national capital under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first national government. That organization was found to be inadequate, and prominent New Yorker Alexander Hamilton advocated for a new government that would include an executive, national courts, and the power to tax. Hamilton led the Annapolis Convention (1786) that called for the Philadelphia Convention, which drafted the United States Constitution, in which he also took part. The new government was to be a strong federal national government to replace the relatively weaker confederation of individual states. Following heated debate, which included the publication of The Federalist Papers as a series of installments in New York City newspapers, New York was the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.[73]
Transportation in Western New York was by expensive wagons on muddy roads before canals opened up the rich farmlands to long-distance traffic. Governor DeWitt Clinton promoted the Erie Canal, which connected New York City to the Great Lakes by the Hudson River, the new canal, and the rivers and lakes. Work commenced in 1817, and the Erie Canal opened eight years later, in 1825. Packet boats pulled by horses on tow paths traveled slowly over the canal carrying passengers and freight.[76] Farm products came in from the Midwest, and finished manufactured goods moved west. It was an engineering marvel which opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and settlement. It enabled Great Lakes port cities such as Buffalo and Rochester to grow and prosper. It also connected the burgeoning agricultural production of the Midwest and shipping on the Great Lakes, with the port of New York City. Improving transportation, it enabled additional population migration to territories west of New York. After 1850, railroads largely replaced the canal.[77]
New York City was a major ocean port and had extensive traffic importing cotton from the South and exporting manufacturing goods. Nearly half of the state's exports were related to cotton. Southern cotton factors, planters and bankers visited so often that they had favorite hotels.[78] At the same time, activism for abolitionism was strong upstate, where some communities provided stops on the Underground Railroad. Upstate, and New York City, gave strong support for the American Civil War, in terms of finances, volunteer soldiers, and supplies. The state provided more than 370,000 soldiers to the Union armies. Over 53,000 New Yorkers died in service, roughly one of every seven who served. However, Irish draft riots in 1862 were a significant embarrassment.[79][80]
Scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island in May 1906
Since the early 19th century, New York City has been the largest port of entry for legal immigration into the United States. In the United States, the federal government did not assume direct jurisdiction for immigration until 1890. Prior to this time, the matter was delegated to the individual states, then via contract between the states and the federal government. Most immigrants to New York would disembark at the bustling docks along the Hudson and East Rivers, in the eventual Lower Manhattan. On May 4, 1847, the New York State Legislature created the Board of Commissioners of Immigration to regulate immigration.[81]
The first permanent immigration depot in New York was established in 1855 at Castle Garden, a converted War of 1812 era fort located within what is now Battery Park, at the tip of Lower Manhattan. The first immigrants to arrive at the new depot were aboard three ships that had just been released from quarantine. Castle Garden served as New York's immigrant depot until it closed on April 18, 1890, when the federal government assumed control over immigration. During that period, more than eight million immigrants passed through its doors (two of every three U.S. immigrants).[82]
When the federal government assumed control, it established the Bureau of Immigration, which chose the three-acre (1.2 ha) Ellis Island in Upper New York Harbor for an entry depot. Already federally controlled, the island had served as an ammunition depot. It was chosen due its relative isolation with proximity to New York City and the rail lines of Jersey City, New Jersey, via a short ferry ride. While the island was being developed and expanded via land reclamation, the federal government operated a temporary depot at the Barge Office at the Battery.[83]
Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, and operated as a central immigration center until the National Origins Act was passed in 1924, reducing immigration. After that date, the only immigrants to pass through were displaced persons or war refugees. The island ceased all immigration processing on November 12, 1954, when the last person detained on the island, Norwegian seaman Arne Peterssen, was released. He had overstayed his shore leave and left on the 10:15a.m. Manhattan-bound ferry to return to his ship.
More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. More than 100 million Americans across the United States can trace their ancestry to these immigrants. Ellis Island was the subject of a contentious and long-running border and jurisdictional dispute between the State of New York and the State of New Jersey, as both claimed it. The issue was officially settled in 1998 by the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that the original 3.3-acre (1.3 ha) island was New York state territory and that the balance of the 27.5 acres (11 ha) added after 1834 by landfill was in New Jersey.[84] In May 1964, Ellis Island was added to the National Park Service by President Lyndon B. Johnson and is still owned by the federal government as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. In 1990, Ellis Island was opened to the public as a museum of immigration.[85]
On September 11, 2001, two of four hijacked planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and the towers collapsed. 7 World Trade Center also collapsed due to damage from fires. The other buildings of the World Trade Center complex were damaged beyond repair and demolished soon thereafter. The collapse of the Twin Towers caused extensive damage and resulted in the deaths of 2,753 victims, including 147 aboard the two planes. Since September11, most of Lower Manhattan has been restored. In the years since, over 7,000 rescue workers and residents of the area have developed several life-threatening illnesses, and some have died.[86][87]
On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction of the state's shorelines, ravaging portions of New York City, Long Island, and southern Westchester with record-high storm surge, with severe flooding and high winds causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems. The storm and its profound effects have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of New York City and Long Island to minimize the risk from another such future event. Such risk is considered highly probable due to global warming and rising sea levels.[89][90]
From May 19–20, Western New York and the Capital Region entered Phase1 of reopening.[92][93] On May 26, the Hudson Valley began Phase1,[94] and New York City partially reopened on June 8.[95]
During July 2020, a federal judge ruled Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio exceeded authority by limiting religious gatherings to 25% when others operated at 50% capacity.[96][97][98] On Thanksgiving Eve, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked additional religious restrictions imposed by Cuomo for areas with high infection rates.[99]
Upstate and Downstate are often used informally to distinguish New York City or its greater metropolitan area from the rest of the State of New York. The placement of a boundary between the two is a matter of great contention.[103] Unofficial and loosely defined regions of Upstate New York include from the Southern Tier, which includes many of the counties along the border with Pennsylvania,[104] to the North Country region, above or sometimes including parts of the Adirondack region.[105]
The Hudson River begins near Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state, without draining Lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu River and then ultimately the Saint Lawrence River. The western section of the state is drained by the Allegheny River and rivers of the Susquehanna and Delaware River systems. Niagara Falls is shared between New York and Ontario as it flows on the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Delaware River Basin Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system.[107]
Under the Köppen climate classification, most of New York has a humid continental climate, though New York City and Long Island have a humid subtropical climate.[108] Weather in New York is heavily influenced by two continental air masses: a warm, humid one from the southwest and a cold, dry one from the northwest. Downstate New York (comprising New York City, Long Island, and lower portions of the Hudson Valley) have rather hot summers with some periods of high humidity and cold, damp winters which are relatively mild compared to temperatures in Upstate New York, due to the downstate region's lower elevation, proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and relatively lower latitude.
Upstate New York experiences warm summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry conditions, with long and cold winters. Western New York, particularly the Tug Hill region, receives heavy lake-effect snows, especially during the earlier portions of winter, before the surface of Lake Ontario itself is covered by ice. The summer climate is cool in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and at higher elevations of the Southern Tier. Buffalo and its metropolitan area are described as climate change havens for their weather pattern in Western New York.[109][110][111][112]
Summer daytime temperatures range from the high 70s to low 80s°F (25 to 28°C), over most of the state. In the majority of winter seasons, a temperature of −13 °F (−25 °C) or lower can be expected in the northern highlands (Northern Plateau) and 5 °F (−15 °C) or colder in the southwestern and east-central highlands of the Southern Tier. New York had a record-high temperature of 108°F (42.2°C) on July 22, 1926, in the Albany area.[113] Its record-lowest temperature during the winter was −52°F (−46.7°C) in 1979.[113]Governors Island, Manhattan, in New York Harbor, is planned to host a US$1 billion research and education center poised to make New York the global leader in addressing the climate crisis.[114]
Due to its long history, New York has several overlapping and often conflicting definitions of regions within the state. The regions are also not fully definable due to the colloquial use of regional labels. The New York State Department of Economic Development provides two distinct definitions of these regions. It divides the state's counties into ten economic regions,[119] which approximately correspond to terminology used by residents:
New York has many state parks and two major forest preserves. Niagara Falls State Park, established in 1885, is the oldest state park in the United States and the first to be created via eminent domain.[122][123] In 1892, Adirondack Park, roughly the size of the state of Vermont and the largest state park in the United States,[124] was established and given state constitutional protection to remain "forever wild" in 1894. The park is larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon national parks combined.[124][125] The Catskill Park was protected in legislation passed in 1885,[126] which declared that its land was to be conserved and never put up for sale or lease. Consisting of 700,000 acres (2,800 km2) of land,[126] the park is a habitat for deer, minks, and fishers. There are some 400 black bears living in the region.[127] The state operates numerous campgrounds, and there are over 300 miles (480 km) of multi-use trails in the Park.
The African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan is the only national monument dedicated to Americans of African ancestry. It preserves a site containing the remains of more than 400 Africans buried during the late 17th and 18th centuries in a portion of what was the largest colonial-era cemetery for people of African descent, both free and enslaved, with an estimated tens of thousands of remains interred. The site's excavation and study were called "the most important historic urban archeological project in the United States."[129]
Gateway National Recreation Area is more than 26,000 acres (10,522 ha) of water, salt marsh, wetlands, islands, and shoreline at the entrance to New York Harbor,[131] the majority of which lies within New York. Including areas on Long Island and in New Jersey, it covers more area than that of two Manhattan islands.
As of 2022, New York is divided into 62 counties.[137] Aside from the five counties of New York City, each of these counties is subdivided into towns and cities, incorporated under state law. Towns can contain incorporated villages or unincorporated hamlets. New York City is divided into five boroughs, each coterminous with a county. The major cities of the state developed along the key transportation and trade routes of the early 19th century, including the Erie Canal and railroads paralleling it. The New York Thruway acts as a modern counterpart to commercial water routes.[138]Downstate New York (New York City, Long Island, and the southern portion of the Hudson Valley) can be considered to form the central core of the Northeast megalopolis, an urbanized region stretching from New Hampshire to Virginia.
New York contains 62 administrative divisions termed cities. The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is New York City, which comprises five counties (each coextensive with a borough): Bronx, New York County (Manhattan), Queens, Kings County (Brooklyn), and Richmond County (Staten Island). New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the state's population. Albany, the state capital, is the sixth-largest city in the State of New York. The smallest city is Sherrill, New York, in Oneida County. Hempstead is the most populous town in the state; if it were a city, it would be the second-largest in the State of New York, with more than 700,000 residents. New York contains 13 metropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.[139] Major metro areas include New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, the Capital District (Albany, Schenectady, and Troy), Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Utica, and Binghamton.
Among New York state's population of 19.5 million, 11 million, or 56 percent, are in New York City or Long Island
New York was the most populous state in the U.S. from the 1810s until 1962. As of 2024, it is the nation's fourth-most populous state behind California, Texas, and Florida. Growth has been distributed unevenly. The New York metropolitan area and the Capital District (particularly Saratoga County) have been growing robustly overall, while the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, Rochester, Syracuse, and other population centers have been losing residents or have been stagnant for decades before resuming growth more recently.[142] New York City gained 223,615 residents between April 2010 and July 2018, representing the greatest population increase of any U.S. city.[142]
According to immigration statistics, the state is a leading recipient of migrants from around the globe. In 2008 New York had the second-largest international immigrant population in the country among U.S. states, at 4.2million; most reside in and around New York City, due to its size, high profile, vibrant economy, and cosmopolitan culture. New York has a sanctuary city law.[143]
The United States Census Bureau tabulated in the 2020 census that the population of New York was 20,215,751 on April 1, 2020, a 4.3% increase since the 2010 census.[10][144] Despite the abundance of open land in the state, New York's population is very urban, with 92% of residents living in an urban area,[145] predominantly in the New York City metropolitan area.
Two-thirds of the state's population resides in the New York metropolitan area. New York City, with approximately 44% of the state's population, is the most populous city in the United States,[146] with an estimated record high population of 8,622,698 in 2017,[147] incorporating more immigration into the city than emigration since the 2010 United States census.[148] More than twice as many people live in New York City as in the second-most populous U.S. city, Los Angeles,[149] and within a smaller area. Long Island alone accounted for a census-estimated 7,838,722 residents in 2015, representing nearly 40% of the State of New York's population.[147][150][151][152][153] Of the total statewide population, 6.5% of New Yorkers were under five years of age, 24.7% under 18, and 12.9% were 65 or older.
According to the 2000 census, Italian, Irish, German, African American and English were the most common ancestries.[158]
The state's historically most populous racial group, non-Hispanic White people, declined as a proportion of the state population from 94.6% in 1940 to 58.3% in 2010.[159][160] As of 2011[update], 55.6% of New York's population younger than age1 were minorities.[161] New York's robustly increasing Jewish population, the largest outside of Israel,[162] was the highest among states both by percentage and by absolute number in 2012.[163] It is driven by the high reproductive rate of Orthodox Jewish families,[164] particularly in Brooklyn and communities of the Hudson Valley.
New York is home to the second-largest Asian American population and the fourth-largest Black or African American population in the United States. New York's Black and African population increased by 2.0% between 2000 and 2010, to 3,073,800.[165] In 2019, the Black and African American population increased to an estimated 3,424,002. The Black or African American population is in a state of flux, as New York is the largest recipient of immigrants from Africa,[166] while established Blacks and African Americans are migrating out of New York to the southern United States.[167] The New York City neighborhood of Harlem has historically been a major cultural capital for Blacks and African Americans of sub-Saharan descent, and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn has the largest such population in the United States. Meanwhile, New York's Asian population increased by a notable 36% from 2000 to 2010, to 1,420,244;[165] in 2019, its population grew to an estimated 1,579,494. Queens, in New York City, is home to the state's largest Asian American population and is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States and the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.[168][169]
New York's growing Hispanic and Latino American population numbered 3,416,922 in 2010,[170] a 19% increase from the 2,867,583 enumerated in 2000.[171] In 2020, it numbered an estimated 3,811,000. Queens is home to the largest Andean (Colombian, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Bolivian) populations in the United States. In addition, New York has the largest Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Jamaican American populations in the continental United States. The Chinese population constitutes the fastest-growing nationality in the State of New York, which is the top destination for new Chinese immigrants, and large-scale Chinese immigration continues into the state.[166][172][173][174][175] Multiple satellites of the original Manhattan Chinatown, in Brooklyn, and around Flushing, Queens, are thriving as traditionally urban enclaves, while also expanding rapidly eastward into suburban Nassau County,[176] on Long Island.[177] Long Island, including Queens and Nassau County, is also home to several Little Indias and a large Koreatown, with large and growing attendant populations of Indian Americans and Korean Americans, respectively. Brooklyn has been a destination for West Indian immigrants of African descent, as well as Asian Indian immigrants. The annual New York City India Day Parade, held on or approximately every August 15 since 1981, is the world's largest Indian Independence Day parade outside of India.[178]
In the 2000 U.S. census, New York had the largest Italian American population, composing the largest self-identified ancestral group in Staten Island and Long Island, followed by Irish Americans. Albany and the Mohawk Valley also have large communities of ethnic Italians and Irish Americans, reflecting 19th and early 20th-century immigration. According to the 2011–2015 American Community Survey, New York also had the largest Greek American population, enumerating 148,637 individuals (0.7% of the state).[179] In Buffalo and Western New York, German Americans comprise the largest ancestry. In the North Country of New York, French Canadians represent the leading ethnicity, given the area's proximity to Quebec. Americans of English ancestry are present throughout all of upstate New York, reflecting early colonial and later immigrants. There is also a Romani (Gypsy) community in New York.[180]Scottish Americans are also present in the state.[181]Mexican Americans are one of the largest Latino groups in New York.[182]
This section may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, as many of the citations are misaligned with the text or have links that don't seem to point to the corresponding information, making verification difficult; note that there has been at least one instance of likely vandalism (Special:Diff/1294528969), though the poor citing makes it hard to confirm if it is truly inaccurate. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. You can help. The talk page may contain suggestions.(June 2025)
In 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 69.5% of New York's population aged 5 years and older only spoke English at home, while 30.6% spoke a language other than English. Spanish was the most spoken non-English language with 2,758,925 speakers. Other Indo-European languages were spoken by 1,587,798 residents, and Asian and Pacific Island languages were spoken by 948,959 people.[188]
At the American Community Survey's 2017 estimates, nearly six million residents spoke a language other than English. Approximately 1,249,541 New York residents spoke Spanish, 386,290 Chinese, 122,150 Russian, 63,615 Haitian Creole, 62,219 Kannada, 58,112 Bengali and 60,405 Korean. While Kannada and Bengali are significantly growing Indian languages in the New York.[189][187] In 2018, 12,756,975 aged 5years and older spoke English alone and 10,415,395 aged 18 and older only spoke English. Spanish-speaking households by majority were not limited to English-speaking.[190] An estimated 2.7million households with residents aged5 and older spoke Spanish. Chinese, Slavic, and French languages were the following largest household languages spoken in 2018.[191]
In 2010, 70.72% (12,788,233) of New York residents aged five and older reported speaking only English at home, while 14.44% (2,611,903) spoke Spanish, 2.61% (472,955) Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin), 1.20% (216,468) Russian, 1.18% (213,785) Italian, 0.79% (142,169) French Creole, 0.75% (135,789) French, 0.67% (121,917) Yiddish, 0.63% (114,574) Korean, and Polish was spoken by 0.53% (95,413) of the population over the age of five. In total, 29.28% (5,295,016) of New York's population aged five and older reported speaking a language other than English.[187]
In 2013, roughly 3.8 percent of the state's adult population self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, constituting a total LGBT adult population in the state of 570,388 individuals.[197] In 2010, the number of same-sex couple households stood at roughly 48,932.[198] New York legalized same-sex marriage on July 24, 2011; one of the first U.S. states to have done so.[199]
New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest LGBTQ populations and the most prominent.[200] In July 2012, Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, said "same-sex marriages in New York City had generated an estimated $259million in economic impact and $16million in City revenues" in the first year after enactment of the Marriage Equality Act.[201] New York City is home to the nation's largest transgender population, estimated at 25,000 as of 2016.[202] The annual NYC Pride March, the largest pride parade in North America held annually in June, traverses down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and ends in Greenwich Village.[203]
The Stonewall National Monument, a national monument, commemorates the Stonewall riots. In June 2017, plans were announced for the first monument to LGBT individuals commissioned by the State of New York and planned to be built in Hudson River Park in Manhattan, near the Hudson River waterfront.[209][210]
Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and was the largest LGBTQ+ pride event in world history, attracting four million attendees in New York City.[211] The Brooklyn Liberation March, the largest transgender-rights demonstration in LGBTQ history, took place on June 14, 2020, stretching from Grand Army Plaza to the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, focused on supporting Black transgender lives, drawing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 participants.[212][213]
In 2014, the Pew Research Center released a study of New York's religious population, which found that a majority, 60%, were Christian. Christians were followed by the irreligious (27%), Judaism (7%), Islam (2%), Buddhism and Hinduism (1% each), and other faiths (0.5%).[215] Through another study by the Public Religion Research Institute in 2020, the majority of New York's religious or spiritual population were 67% Christian, followed by the irreligious (22%), Judaism (4%), Islam (2%), Buddhism and Hinduism (1% each), and other faiths (1%).[216]
Prior to the 1800s, Protestant denominations dominated the religious life of New York, although religion did not play as large a role in the public life of colonial-era New Netherland as it did in New England, with its Puritan population.[217] Historically, New York served as the foundation for new Christian denominations in the Second Great Awakening. Non-Western Christian traditions and non-Christian religions did not grow for much of the state's history because immigration was predominantly from Western Europe (favored by the quotas in federal immigration law). The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 removed the quotas, allowing for the growth of other religious groups.
According to the Pew Research Center, non-Christian religions accounted for 12% of New York state's population in 2020.[215] Judaism was the second-largest religion as of 2014 and 2020. In 2010, 588,500 practiced Orthodox Judaism.[218] A little over 392,953 professed Islam. The Powers Street Mosque in New York City was the state's first Muslim organization.[219] New York is also home to the oldest Zoroastrianfire temple in the nation.[220] Less than 1% of New York's population practiced New Age and contemporary paganism. Native American religions were also a minority religion.[215] Statewide, 17% were not religiously practicing, 5% identified as agnostic, and 5% as atheist.
Many of the world's largest media conglomerates are also based in the city. Manhattan contained approximately 520million square feet (48.1million m2) of office space in 2013,[236] making it the largest office market in the United States,[237] while Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in the world.[238]
In December 2014, the State of New York announced a US$50million venture-capital fund to encourage enterprises working in biotechnology and advanced materials; according to former Governor Andrew Cuomo, the seed money would facilitate entrepreneurs in bringing their research into the marketplace.[241]
New York City's artificial intelligence (AI) sector alone raised US$483.6 million in venture capital investment in 2022.[244] In 2023, New York unveiled the first comprehensive initiative to create both a framework of rules and a chatbot to regulate the use of AI within the sphere of city government.[245]
Creative industries, which are concerned with generating and distributing knowledge and information, such as new media, digital media, film and television production, advertising, fashion, design, and architecture, account for a growing share of employment, with New York City possessing a strong competitive advantage in these industries.[256] As of 2014[update], the State of New York was offering tax incentives of up to $420million annually for filmmaking within the state, the most generous such tax rebate among U.S. states. New York has also attracted higher-wage visual-effects employment by further augmenting its tax credit to a maximum of 35% for performing post-film production work in Upstate New York.[257] The filmed entertainment industry has been growing in New York, contributing nearly $9billion to the New York City economy alone as of 2015.[258]
I Love New York (stylized as I ❤ NY) is a slogan, a logo, and state song that are the basis of an advertising campaign used since 1977 to promote tourism in the New York state,[259] including New York City.[260][261] The trademarked logo is owned by New York State Empire State Development.[259] By 2025, tourism had become New York's second-largest industry (after finance), supporting one in 10 jobs and generating billions of dollars in economic impact annually.[262]The Broadway League reported that Broadway shows sold approximately $1.27billion worth of tickets in the 2013–2014 season, an 11.4% increase from $1.139billion in the 2012–2013 season. Attendance in 2013–2014 stood at 12.21million, representing a 5.5% increase from the 2012–2013 season's 11.57million.[263]
New York exports a wide variety of goods such as prepared foods, computers, and electronics, cut diamonds, and other commodities. New York's largest imports are oil, gold, aluminum, natural gas, electricity, rough diamonds, and lumber. The state also has a large manufacturing sector that includes printing and the production of garments, mainly in New York City; and furs, railroad equipment, automobile parts, and bus line vehicles, concentrated in Upstate regions.
New York is the nation's third-largest grape producing state, and third-largest wine producer by volume, behind California and Washington. The southern Finger Lakes hillsides, the Hudson Valley, the North Fork of Long Island, and the southern shore of Lake Erie are the primary grape- and wine-growing regions in New York, with many vineyards. In 2012, New York had 320 wineries and 37,000 grape bearing acres (15,000 ha), generating full-time employment for nearly 25,000 and annual wages over $1.1billion, and yielding $4.8billion in direct economic impact from New York grapes, grape juice, and wine and grape products.[264]
The New York agriculture industry is a major producer overall, ranking among the top five states for agricultural products including maple syrup, apples, cherries, cabbage, dairy products, onions, and potatoes. The state is the largest producer of cabbage in the U.S. The state has about a quarter of its land in farms and produced $3.4billion in agricultural products in 2001. The south shore of Lake Ontario provides the right mix of soils and microclimate for many apple, cherry, plum, pear and peach orchards. Apples are also grown in the Hudson Valley and near Lake Champlain. A moderately sized saltwater commercial fishery is located along the Atlantic side of Long Island. The principal catches by value are clams, lobsters, squid, and flounder.[265]
In 2017, the State of New York consumed 156,370 gigawatthours (GWh) of electrical energy. Downstate regions (Hudson Valley, New York City, and Long Island) consumed 66% of that amount. Upstate regions produced 50% of that amount. The peak load in 2017 was 29,699 MW. The resource capability in 2017 was 42,839 MW.[266][267] The NYISO's market monitor described the average all-in wholesale electric price as a range (a single value was not provided) from $25 per MWh to $53 per MWh for 2017.[268]
New York has one of the oldest and most extensive transportation infrastructures in the country. Engineering challenges posed by the complex terrain of the state and the unique infrastructural issues of New York City brought on by urban crowding have had to be overcome perennially. Population expansion of the state has followed the path of the early waterways, first the Hudson River and Mohawk River, then the Erie Canal. In the 19th century, railroads were constructed along the river valleys, followed by the New York State Thruway in the 20th century.
The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (NYSDMV or DMV) is the governmental agency responsible for registering and inspecting automobiles and other motor vehicles, as well as licensing drivers in the State of New York. As of 2008[update], the NYSDMV has 11,284,546 drivers licenses on file and 10,697,644 vehicle registrations in force.[271][272] All gasoline-powered vehicles registered in the State of New York are required to have an emissions inspection every 12 months, in order to ensure that environmental quality controls are working to prevent air pollution. Diesel-powered vehicles with a gross weight rating over 8,500 pounds that are registered in most Downstate New York counties must get an annual emissions inspection. All vehicles registered in the State of New York must get an annual safety inspection.
Portions of the transportation system are intermodal, allowing travelers to switch easily from one mode of transportation to another. One of the most notable examples is AirTrain JFK which allows rail passengers to travel directly to terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport and to the underground New York City Subway system.
The University of the State of New York accredits and sets standards for elementary, middle-level, and secondary education in the state, while the New York State Education Department oversees public schools and controls their standardized tests. The New York City Department of Education manages the New York City Public Schools system. In 1894, reflecting general racial discrimination then, the state passed a law that allowed communities to set up separate schools for children of African-American descent. In 1900, the state passed another law requiring integrated schools.[281] During the 2013 fiscal year, New York spent more on public education per pupil than any other state, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.[282]
The highest court of appeal in the Unified Court System is the Court of Appeals whereas the primary felonytrial court is the County Court (or the Supreme Court in New York City). The New York Supreme Court also acts as the intermediate appellate court for many cases, and the local courts handle a variety of other matters including small claims, traffic ticket cases, and local zoning matters, and are the starting point for all criminal cases.
The state is divided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, all of which are municipal corporations with respect to their own governments, as well as various corporate entities that serve single purposes that are also local governments, such as school districts, fire districts, and New York state public-benefit corporations, frequently known as authorities or development corporations. Each municipal corporation is granted varying home rule powers as provided by the New York Constitution. The state also has 10 Indian reservations. There have been several movements regarding secession from the state of New York. Proposals have included a state of Long Island, consisting of everything on the island outside New York City; a state called Niagara, the western counties of the state of New York; the northern counties of the state of New York called Upstate New York; making the city of New York a state; a proposal for a new Peconic County on eastern Long Island; and for the borough of Staten Island to secede from New York City.[285][286]
In a 2020 study, New York was ranked as the 17th easiest state for citizens to vote in.[287]
New York's government released a new seal, coat of arms, and flag in April 2020, adding "E pluribus unum" below the state's motto.[288][289] A bill utilizing newly designed flag, arms and seal went into effect in September.[290]
Revived in the early 2000s, Abolition Commemoration Day, also known as the Fifth of July, is a historic celebration commemorating the abolishment of slavery in New York. In July 2020, the New York State Assembly passed legislation officially recognizing Abolition Commemoration Day and Juneteenth in New York.[291][292] Abolition Commemoration Day is observed on the second Monday in July and Juneteenth on June 19.[291]
As of 2026, New York contains twenty-six congressional districts.[293][294] New York lost a congressional district in 2023 due to the state's slower overall population growth relative to the overall national population growth.[295] As of 2024, New York has 28 electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections.[296]
As of 2025, there are more than twice as many enrolled Democratic voters as there are enrolled Republican voters in New York.[298] As of 2024, no Republican candidate had won a presidential election in New York since Ronald Reagan did so in 1984.[299] As of 2025, no Republican candidate had won a statewide election in New York since George Pataki was re-elected governor in 2002.[300]
As of 2026, Democrat Kathy Hochul is the governor of New York, having served in that capacity since 2021;[305] the New York State Senate has been led by the Democratic Party since 2019,[306][307] and the New York State Assembly has been led by the Democrats since 1975.[308][309][310]
^Shields, Ann (November 10, 2014). "The World's 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions—No. 3: Times Square, New York City—Annual Visitors: 50,000,000". Travel+Lesiure. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2015. No.3 Times Square, New York City—Annual Visitors: 50,000,000... No.4 (tie) Central Park, New York City—Annual Visitors: 40,000,000... No.9 Niagara Falls, New York and Ontario—Annual Visitors: 22,000,000... No.10 Grand Central Terminal, New York City—Annual Visitors: 21,600,000
^Will Martin and Libertina Brandt (June 14, 2019). "The 21 most influential cities in the world". Business Insider. Retrieved August 12, 2023. It's no surprise that New York City, home of Wall Street and the United Nations, is viewed as the world's most important city.
^ ab"Top 8 Cities by GDP: China vs. The U.S." Business Insider, Inc. July 31, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2015. For instance, Shanghai, the largest Chinese city with the highest economic production, and a fast-growing global financial hub, is far from matching or surpassing New York, the largest city in the U.S. and the economic and financial super center of the world."PAL sets introductory fares to New York". Philippine Airlines. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
^Jones, Huw (January 27, 2020). "New York surges ahead of Brexit-shadowed London in finance: survey". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2020. New York remains the world's top financial center, pushing London further into second place as Brexit uncertainty undermines the UK capital and Asian centers catch up, a survey from consultants Duff & Phelps said on Monday.
^John Heckewelder (Loskiel): Conoys, Ganawese, etc. explains Charles A. Hanna (Vol II, 1911:96, Ganeiens-gaa, Margry, i., 529; ii., 142–43,) using La Salle's letter of August 22, 1681, Fort Saint Louis (Illinois) mentioning "Ohio tribes" for extrapolation.
^Winfield, Nicole (October 20, 2012). "Boy's miracle cure makes 'Lily of the Mohawks' first Native American saint". NBC News. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021. Known as the "Lily of the Mohawks," Kateri was born in 1656 to a pagan Iroquois father and an Algonquin Christian mother in what is today upstate New York. Her parents and only brother died when she was 4 during a smallpox epidemic that left her badly scarred and with impaired eyesight. She went to live with her uncle, a Mohawk, and was baptized Catholic by Jesuit missionaries. But she was ostracized and persecuted by other natives for her faith, and she died in Canada when she was 24.
^Parrott, Zach; Marshall, Tabitha (February 7, 2006). "Iroquois Wars". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
^Editor: Alvin M. Josephy Jr., by the editors of American Heritage Magazine (1961). "The American Heritage Book of Indians" pages 188–219. American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc
^ ab"Fort Nassau". A Tour of New Netherland. New Netherland Institute. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021.
^Bielinski, Stefan (November 30, 2001). "Castle Island". The New York State Museum. Archived from the original on February 7, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
^"New York State Thruway". thruway.ny.gov. New York State Thruway Authority. Archived from the original on August 22, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
^"LGBT Memorial Commission". Welcome to the State of New York. September 30, 2016. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
^"New York City Unveils AI Action Plan that Develops Rules Framework". PYMNTS. October 16, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2023. This comprehensive initiative is the first for a major U.S. city...As part of the plan, the city has piloted the first citywide AI chatbot to help business owners navigate government.
^Currid, Elizabeth (2006). "New York as a Global Creative Hub: A Competitive Analysis of Four Theories on World Cities". Economic Development Quarterly. 20 (4): 330–350. doi:10.1177/0891242406292708. ISSN0891-2424. S2CID154428747.
^ ab"I Love New York Logo". New York State Library—New York State Education Department. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
^"2018 Power Trends"(PDF). www.nyiso.com. April 2018. pp. 11, 12, 14. Archived from the original(PDF) on November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
^Chen, Jie; LeeVanSchaick, Pallas; Naga, Raghu Palavadi; Patton, David B. (May 2018). "2017 State of the Market Report"(PDF). www.potomaceconomics.com. pp. ii, 3, A-2, A-6. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
^Transportation Law § 11. "There shall be in the state government a department of transportation. The head of the department shall be the commissioner of transportation." Accessed July 19, 2015.
^"2002 Annual Report"(PDF). PANY. 2003. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2015.. Accessed July 19, 2015.
^New York City Charter § 2901; "There shall be a department of transportation, the head of which shall be the commissioner of transportation." Accessed July 19, 2015.
^Frank Rich (2003). Juilliard. Harry N. Abrams. pp. 10. ISBN978-0810935365. Juilliard grew up with both the country and its burgeoning cultural capital of New York to become an internationally recognized synonym for the pinnacle of artistic achievement.
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury.[1] To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognized at law, the loss must involve damage to property, or mental or physical injury; pure economic loss is rarely recognized for the award of damages.[2]
Compensatory damages are further categorized into special damages, which are economic losses such as loss of earnings, property damage and medical expenses, and general damages, which are non-economic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. Rather than being compensatory,[3] at common law damages may instead be nominal, contemptuous or exemplary.[4]
Among the Saxons, a monetary value called a weregild was assigned to every human being and every piece of property in the Salic Code. If property was stolen or someone was injured or killed, the guilty person had to pay the weregild as restitution to the victim's family or to the owner of the property.
Recovery of damages by a plaintiff in lawsuit is subject to the legal principle that damages must be proximately caused by the wrongful conduct of the defendant. This is known as the principle of proximate cause. This principle governs the recovery of all compensatory damages, whether the underlying claim is based on contract, tort, or both.[5] Damages are likely to be limited to those reasonably foreseeable by the defendant. If a defendant could not reasonably have foreseen that someone might be hurt by their actions, there may be no liability.
This rule does not usually apply to intentional torts (for example, tort of deceit), and also has stunted applicability to the quantum in negligence where the maxim 'Intended consequences are never too remote' applies: 'never' is inaccurate here but resorts to unforeseeable direct and natural consequences of an act.
It may be useful for the lawyers, the plaintiff and/or the defendant to employ forensic accountants or someone trained in the relevant field of economics to give evidence on the value of the loss. In this case, they may be called upon to give opinion evidence as an expert witness.
Compensatory damages are paid to compensate the claimant for loss, injury, or harm suffered by the claimant as a result of another's breach of duty that caused the loss.[6] For example, compensatory damages may be awarded as the result of a negligence claim under tort law. Expectation damages are used in contract law to put an injured party in the position it would have occupied but for the breach.[7] Compensatory damages can be classified as special damages and general damages.[8]
Liability for payment of an award of damages is established when the claimant proves, on the balance of probabilities, that a defendant's wrongful act caused a tangible, harm, loss or injury to the plaintiff. Once that threshold is met, the plaintiff is entitled to some amount of recovery for that loss or injury. No recovery is not an option. The court must then assess the amount of compensation attributable to the harmful acts of the defendant.[9] The amount of damages a plaintiff would recover is usually measured on a "loss of bargain" basis, also known as expectation loss,[10] or "economic loss". This concept reflects the difference between "the value of what has been received and its value as represented".[11]
Damages are usually assessed at the date of the wrongful act, but in England and Wales, Pelling J has observed that this is not the case if justice requires the assessment of damages to be calculated at some other date. In Murfin v Ford Campbell, an agreement had been entered into whereby company shares were exchanged for loan notes, which could only be redeemed if certain profit thresholds had been achieved in the relevant accounting years. As the thresholds were not met, the loan notes were not redeemable, but at the date of the advisors' breach of contract this could not be known, only the loan notes' face value could be known. The conclusion was that in this case valuation could not be done until after the profit performance became known. In his judgement Pelling also referred to the case of Smith New Court Securities Ltd v Scrimgeour Vickers (Asset Management) Ltd, a case where continuing misrepresentation affected the appropriate date for damages to be assessed.[12]
Special damages compensate the claimant for the quantifiable monetary losses he has suffered.[13] For example, extra costs, repair or replacement of damaged property, lost earnings (both historically and in the future), loss of irreplaceable items, additional domestic costs, and so on.[14] They are seen in both personal and commercial actions.
Special damages can include direct losses (such as amounts the claimant had to spend to try to mitigate damages)[15] and consequential or economic losses resulting from lost profits in a business.
Damages in tort are awarded generally to place the claimant in the position in which he would have been had the tort not taken place.[16] Damages for breach of contract are generally awarded to place the claimant in the position in which he would have been had the contract not been breached. This can often result in a different measure of damages. In cases where it is possible to frame a claim in either contract or tort, it is necessary to be aware of what gives the best outcome. If the transaction was a "good bargain", contract generally gives a better result for the claimant.
As an example, Neal agrees to sell Mary an antique Rolex watch for £100. In fact the watch is a fake and worth only £50. If it had been a genuine antique Rolex, it would have been worth £500. Neal is in breach of contract and could be sued. In contract, Mary is entitled to an item worth £500, but she has only one worth £50. Her damages are £450. Neal also induced Mary to enter into the contract through a misrepresentation (a tort). If Mary sues in tort, she is entitled to damages that put her back to the same financial position place she would have been in had the misrepresentation not been made. She would clearly not have entered into the contract knowing the watch was fake and is entitled to her £100 back. Thus her damages in tort are £100. (She would have to return the watch, or else her damages would be £50.)
If the transaction were a "bad bargain", tort gives a better result for the claimant. If in the above example, Mary had overpaid, paying £750 for the watch, her damages in the contract would still be £450 (giving her the item she contracted to buy), however, in tort damages are £750.
Incidental losses include the costs needed to remedy problems and put things right. The largest element is likely to be the reinstatement of property damage. Take for example a factory which was burnt down by the negligence of a contractor. The claimant would be entitled to the direct costs required to rebuild the factory and replace the damaged machinery.
The claimant may also be entitled to any consequential losses. These may include the lost profits that the claimant could have been expected to make in the period whilst the factory was closed and rebuilt.
On a breach of contract by a defendant, a court generally awards the sum that would restore the injured party to the economic position they expected from performance of the promise or promises (known as an "expectation measure" or "benefit-of-the-bargain" measure of damages). This rule, however, has attracted increasing scrutiny from Australian courts and legal commentators.[17][18][19] A judge arrives compensatory number by considering both the type of contract, and the loss incurred.[20]
When it is either not possible or not desirable to award the victim in that way, a court may award money damages designed to restore the injured party to the economic position they occupied at the time the contract was entered (known as the "reliance measure")[21][22] or designed to prevent the breaching party from being unjustly enriched ("restitution") (see below).
Parties may contract for liquidated damages to be paid upon a breach of the contract by one of the parties. Under common law, a liquidated damages clause will not be enforced if the purpose of the term is solely to punish a breach (in this case it is termed penal damages).[23] The clause will be enforceable if it involves a genuine attempt to quantify a loss in advance and is a good faith estimate of economic loss. Courts have ruled as excessive and invalidated damages which the parties contracted as liquidated, but which the court nonetheless found to be penal. To determine whether a clause is a liquidated damages clause or a penalty clause, it is necessary to consider:
Whether the clause is 'extravagant, out of all proportion, exorbitant or unconscionable'[24]
Whether there is a single sum stipulated for a number of different breaches, or individual sums for each breach[25]
Whether a genuine pre-estimate of damage is ascertainable[25]
Damages in tort are generally awarded to place the claimant in the position that would have been taken had the tort not taken place. Damages in tort are quantified under two headings: general damages and special damages.
In personal injury claims, damages for compensation are quantified by reference to the severity of the injuries sustained (see below general damages for more details). In non-personal injury claims, for instance, a claim for professional negligence against solicitors, the measure of damages will be assessed by the loss suffered by the client due to the negligent act or omission by the solicitor giving rise to the loss. The loss must be reasonably foreseeable and not too remote. Financial losses are usually simple to quantify but in complex cases which involve loss of pension entitlements and future loss projections, the instructing solicitor will usually employ a specialist expert actuary or accountant to assist with the quantification of the loss.
General damages are monetary compensation for the non-monetary aspects of the specific harm suffered. These damages are sometimes termed "pain, suffering and loss of amenity". Examples of this include physical or emotional pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, disfigurement, loss of reputation, impairment of mental or physical capacity, hedonic damages or loss of enjoyment of life, etc.[26] This is not easily quantifiable, and depends on the individual circumstances of the claimant.
Judges in the United Kingdom base the award on damages awarded in similar previous cases. In 2012 the Court of Appeal of England and Wales noted that
this court has not merely the power, but a positive duty, to monitor, and where appropriate to alter, the guideline rates for general damages in personal injury actions.[27]
General damages in England and Wales were increased by 10% for all cases where judgements were given after 1 April 2013, following changes to the options available to personal injury claimants wanting to cover the cost of their litigation.[28]
General damages are generally awarded only in claims brought by individuals, when they have suffered personal harm. Examples would be personal injury (following the tort of negligence by the defendant), or the tort of defamation.
The quantification of personal injury is not an exact science. In English law solicitors treat personal injury claims as "general damages" for pain and suffering and loss of amenity (PSLA). Solicitors quantify personal injury claims by reference to previous awards made by the courts which are "similar" to the case in hand. The Judicial College's Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases are adjusted following periodic review of the awards which have been made by the courts since the previous review.[29]
The guidance which solicitors will take into account to help quantify general damages include:
The age of the client: The age of the client is important especially when dealing with fatal accident claims or permanent injuries. The younger the injured victim with a permanent injury the longer that person has to live with the PSLA. As a consequence, the greater the compensation payment. In fatal accident claims, generally the younger deceased, the greater the dependency claim by the partner and children.
The nature and extent of the injuries sustained: Solicitors will consider "like for like" injuries with the case in hand and similar cases decided by the courts previously. These cases are known as precedents. Generally speaking decisions from the higher courts will bind the lower courts. Therefore, judgments from the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal have greater authority than the lower courts such as the High Court and the County Court. A compensation award can only be right or wrong with reference to that specific judgment. Solicitors must be careful when looking at older cases when quantifying a claim to ensure that the award is brought up to date and to take into account the court of appeal case in Heil v Rankin[30] Generally speaking the greater the injury the greater the damages awarded.
Personal attributes and fortitude of the client: This heading is inextricably linked with the other points above. Where two clients are of the same age, experience and suffer the same injury, it does not necessarily mean that they will be affected the same. We are all different. Some people will recover more quickly than others. The courts will assess each claim on its own particular facts and therefore if one claimant recovers more quickly than another, the damages will be reflected accordingly. "Psychological injuries" may also follow from an accident which may increase the quantum of damages.
When a personal injury claim is settled either in court or out of court, the most common way the compensation payment is made is by a lump sum award in full and final settlement of the claim. Once accepted there can be no further award for compensation at a later time unless the claim is settled by provisional damages often found in industrial injury claims such as asbestos related injuries.
Statutory damages are an amount stipulated within the statute rather than calculated based on the degree of harm to the plaintiff. Lawmakers will provide for statutory damages for acts in which it is difficult to determine the value of the harm to the victim. Mere violation of the law can entitle the victim to a statutory award, even if no actual injury occurred. These are different from nominal damages, in which no written sum is specified.
Nominal damages are very small damages awarded to show that the loss or harm suffered was technical rather than actual. Perhaps the most famous nominal damages award in modern times has been the $1 verdict against the National Football League (NFL) in the 1986 antitrust suit prosecuted by the United States Football League. Although the verdict was automatically trebled pursuant to antitrust law in the United States, the resulting $3 judgment was regarded as a victory for the NFL. Historically, one of the best known nominal damage awards was the farthing that the jury awarded to James Whistler in his libel suit against John Ruskin. In the English jurisdiction, nominal damages are generally fixed at £5.[31]
Many times a party that has been wronged but is not able to prove significant damages will sue for nominal damages. This is particularly common in cases involving alleged violations of constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech. Until 2021, in the United States, there was a circuit split as to whether nominal damages may be used if a constitutional violation had occurred but has since been rendered moot.[32] The Supreme Court decided 8–1 in the 2021 case Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski that nominal damages are appropriate means to redress violated rights otherwise now rendered moot.[33][34]
Contemptuous damages are a form of damage award available in some jurisdictions. They are similar to nominal damages awards, as they are given when the plaintiff's suit is trivial, used only to settle a point of honor or law.[35] Awards are usually of the smallest amount, usually 1 cent or similar. In England, damages of one half penny were awarded in Dering v Uris[36] and the case of the "spanking colonel" John Elliott Brooks.[a][40][41][42] The key distinction is that in jurisdictions that follow the principle that the losing party pays for attorney fees, the claimant in a contemptuous damages case may be required to pay their own attorney fees.[43]Court costs are not awarded.[44]
Generally, punitive damages, which are also termed exemplary damages in the United Kingdom, are not awarded in order to compensate the plaintiff, but in order to reform or deter the defendant and similar persons from pursuing a course of action such as that which damaged the plaintiff. Punitive damages are awarded only in special cases where conduct was egregiously insidious and are over and above the amount of compensatory damages, such as in the event of malice or intent. Great judicial restraint is expected to be exercised in their application. In the United States punitive damages awards are subject to the limitations imposed by the due process of law clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
In England and Wales, exemplary damages are limited to the circumstances set out by Lord Devlin in the leading case of Rookes v. Barnard. They are:
Oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional actions by the servants of government.
Where the defendant's conduct was 'calculated' to make a profit for himself.
Where a statute expressly authorises the same.
Rookes v Barnard has been much criticized and has not been followed in Canada or Australia or by the Privy Council.
Punitive damages awarded in a US case would be difficult to get recognition for in a European court, where punitive damages are most likely to be considered to violate ordre public.[45]
Some jurisdictions recognize a form of damages, called aggravated damages, that are similar to punitive or exemplary damages. Aggravated damages are not often awarded; they apply where the injury has been aggravated by the wrongdoer's behaviour, for example, cruelty.[46]
In certain areas of the law another head of damages has long been available, whereby the defendant is made to give up the profits made through the civil wrong in restitution. Doyle and Wright define restitutionary damages as being a monetary remedy that is measured according to the defendant's gain rather than the plaintiff's loss.[47] The plaintiff thereby gains damages which are not measured by reference to any loss sustained. In some areas of the law this heading of damages is uncontroversial; most particularly intellectual property rights and breach of fiduciary relationship.
In England and Wales the House of Lords case of Attorney-General v. Blake opened up the possibility of restitutionary damages for breach of contract. In this case the profits made by a defecting spy, George Blake, for the publication of his book, were awarded to the British Government for breach of contract. The case has been followed in English courts, but the situations in which restitutionary damages will be available remain unclear.
The basis for restitutionary damages is much debated, but is usually seen as based on denying a wrongdoer any profit from his wrongdoing. It is challenging to determine and codify which kinds of wrongs are suitable for the application of this remedy.
In addition to damages, the successful party is often entitled to be awarded their reasonable legal costs that they spent during the case. This is the rule in most countries other than the United States. In the United States, a party generally is not entitled to its attorneys' fees or for hardships undergone during trial unless the parties agreed in a contract that attorney's fees should be covered or a specific statute or law permits recovery of legal fees, such as discrimination.[48]
^Brooks, who was actually a lieutenant-colonel rather than a full colonel (as well as a former mayor and a solicitor), sued IPC Newspapers after its Sunday People title accused him of being "a menace to young girls"[37] by luring young women onto his cabin cruiser under the pretext that they would get to crew it and then assaulting them; one woman who appeared in the article said that Brooks had spanked her bare bottom thirty times. Brooks admitted that he was inviting women onto his boat for his personal enjoyment, spanking included, but denied beating them[38] and insisted that they had given their full consent.[39]
^Spetz, Steven N (1974). "Civil Court Procedure And Remedies For Tort". Can I Sue? An Introduction to Canadian Tort Law. Toronto: Pitman. p. 219. ISBN0-273-04189-4.
Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with blunt objects, by heat or cold, or by venoms and biotoxins. Injury prompts an inflammatory response in many taxa of animals; this prompts wound healing. In both plants and animals, substances are often released to help to occlude the wound, limiting loss of fluids and the entry of pathogens such as bacteria. Many organisms secrete antimicrobial chemicals which limit wound infection; in addition, animals have a variety of immune responses for the same purpose. Both plants and animals have regrowth mechanisms which may result in complete or partial healing over the injury. Cells too can repair damage to a certain degree.
Injury in animals is sometimes defined as mechanical damage to anatomical structure,[1] but it has a wider connotation of physical damage with any cause, including drowning, burns, and poisoning.[2] Such damage may result from attempted predation, territorial fights, falls, and abiotic factors.[2]
In plants, injuries result from the eating of plant parts by herbivorous animals including insects and mammals,[10] from damage to tissues by plant pathogens such as bacteria and fungi, which may gain entry after herbivore damage or in other ways,[11] and from abiotic factors such as heat,[12] freezing,[13] flooding,[14] lightning,[15] and pollutants[16] such as ozone.[17] Plants respond to injury by signalling that damage has occurred,[18] by secreting materials to seal off the damaged area,[19] by producing antimicrobial chemicals,[20][21] and in woody plants by regrowing over wounds.[22][23][24]
Cell injury is a variety of changes of stress that a cell suffers due to external as well as internal environmental changes. Amongst other causes, this can be due to physical, chemical, infectious, biological, nutritional or immunological factors. Cell damage can be reversible or irreversible. Depending on the extent of injury, the cellular response may be adaptive and where possible, homeostasis is restored.[25] Cell death occurs when the severity of the injury exceeds the cell's ability to repair itself.[26] Cell death is relative to both the length of exposure to a harmful stimulus and the severity of the damage caused.[25]
^Smillie, R.M.; Nott, R. (1979). "Heat Injury in Leaves of Alpine, Temperate and Tropical Plants". Functional Plant Biology. 6 (1). CSIRO Publishing: 135. doi:10.1071/pp9790135. ISSN1445-4408.
^Burke, M. J.; Gusta, L. V.; Quamme, H. A.; Weiser, C. J.; Li, P. H. (1976). "Freezing and Injury in Plants". Annual Review of Plant Physiology. 27 (1). Annual Reviews: 507–528. doi:10.1146/annurev.pp.27.060176.002451. ISSN0066-4294.
^Sun, Qiang; Rost, Thomas L.; Matthews, Mark A. (2008). "Wound-induced vascular occlusions in Vitis vinifera (Vitaceae): Tyloses in summer and gels in winter1". American Journal of Botany. 95 (12). Wiley: 1498–1505. doi:10.3732/ajb.0800061. ISSN0002-9122. PMID21628157.