As mentioned before in this blog, for a wrongful death action to be properly initiated, a personal representative needs to be duly appointed for the decedent's distributees. In New York State, the Surrogate Court is the court that handles such appointments.
I have e-mailed the Chief Clerks at each NY county Surrogate Court, requesting information on the number of filings for wrongful death for 2009. Twenty-six of sixty-two court clerk's have responded:
| Albany | 68 |
| Allegany | 3 |
| Cayuga | 16 |
| Chautauqua | 16 |
| Chenango | 5 |
| Clinton | 4 |
| Columbia | 7 |
| Franklin | 13 |
| Fulton | 8 |
| Greene | 22 |
| Lewis | 5 |
| Livingston | 27 |
| Monroe | 88 |
| Montgomery | 8 |
| Oneida | 31 |
| Onondaga | 57 |
| Ontario | 16 |
| Oswego | 45 |
| Otsego | 3 |
| Schnectady | 41 |
| Schoharie | 12* *"10 asbestos |
| Seneca | 6 |
| Steuben | 58 |
| Tomkins | 5 |
| Wayne | 18 |
| Yates | 3 |
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