The Fourth Department, reversing the Court of Claims, determined the Court of Claims did not have the power to order the state to pay for liability insurance to allow claimant’s expert to test soil and water for contamination by highway deicing agents. Under the Court of Claims Act, the state cannot be required to pay fees for claimant’s witnesses:
In this real property tort action, claimants assert that deicing agents have run off of the Thruway and onto their farm located adjacent to the Thruway, thereby contaminating the soil and water. In order to prove their claim, claimants sought to inspect, test, and sample the Thruway shoulder and median adjacent to their farm. The testing would include, among other things, air, soil, and water testing and would involve “six visits to the site during the winter and early spring.” Claimants located a professor who agreed to perform the testing as their expert in exchange for permission to use the tests in his research and teaching; however, neither claimants nor the professor could afford the liability insurance routinely required by defendant in connection with inspections performed on its property.
Defendant moved for a protective order “requiring [c]laimants to provide satisfactory liability insurance in connection with proposed testing.” The Court of Claims issued an order stating, inter alia, that “[d]efendant shall be required to obtain or pay the costs of the insurance necessary to cover the anticipated testing activities” and that “the amount of insurance necessary shall be as determined by [d]efendant.” * * *
Under Court of Claims Act § 27, “costs, witnesses’ fees and disbursements shall not be taxed . . . by the court to any party.” Frederick v New York State Thruway Auth., 2016 NY Slip Op 06585, 4th Dept 10-7-16
COURT OF CLAIMS ACT (STATE CANNOT BE REQUIRED TO PAY FOR LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR CLAIMANT’S EXPERT RE: TESTING FOR CONTAMINATION BY HIGHWAY DEICING AGENTS)/ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (HIGHWAY DEICING AGENTS, STATE CANNOT BE REQUIRED TO PAY FOR LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR CLAIMANT’S EXPERT RE: TESTING FOR CONTAMINATION BY HIGHWAY DEICING AGENTS)/REAL PROPERTY (STATE CANNOT BE REQUIRED TO PAY FOR LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR CLAIMANT’S EXPERT RE: TESTING FOR CONTAMINATION BY HIGHWAY DEICING AGENTS)/HIGHWAYS (STATE CANNOT BE REQUIRED TO PAY FOR LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR CLAIMANT’S EXPERT RE: TESTING FOR CONTAMINATION BY HIGHWAY DEICING AGENTS)/DEICING AGENTS (STATE CANNOT BE REQUIRED TO PAY FOR LIABILITY INSURANCE FOR CLAIMANT’S EXPERT RE: TESTING FOR CONTAMINATION BY HIGHWAY DEICING AGENTS)