Legal News

Should Racial Differences in Life Span Factor in Damage Calculations?

By Dan Slater

From tobacco to gun rulings, Jack Weinstein is nothing if not controversial. Yesterday, the Eastern District of New York judge took on race.

In an opinion, Weinstein, reports the NYLJ, slammed the use of statistics showing racial differences in life expectancy to determine damages for a black man injured in the 2003 crash of the Staten Island Ferry.

Last month, Weinstein (pictured) awarded Jack McMillan, who was rendered a quadriplegic in the crash, $18.3 million. The city had sought to limit McMillan’s damages on a number of grounds, arguing that his past criminal records as much as his race indicated a shorter life expectancy. At trial, Weinstein said he’d issue a decision explaining his reasoning on the race issue.

In addition to noting that today’s heterogeneous society renders racial determinations problematic, Weinstein approvingly cited anthropologists who regard race as a social construct rather than a biological fact. Though he acknowledged a documented mortality gap between blacks and whites, he said the gap likely owed much to socioeconomic factors masked as “race.”

The Corporation Counsel’s Office declined to comment to the NYLJ on Weinstein’s decision.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 15, 2008 (boomark / email).