Plaintiffs' lawyers poured roughly $179 million into New York's local airwaves and ad space in 2025, saturating television, radio, billboards and digital platforms with legal-service pitches. The ad spike arrives just as Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing an anti-fraud and insurance reform package that lawmakers say is aimed at easing some of the highest auto premiums in the nation.
The Report's Claims
According to The Center Square, which detailed a new analysis by the American Tort Reform Association, plaintiffs' firms spent close to $179,000,000 on almost 1,200,000 local legal-service ads across New York media markets in 2025. The coverage notes that those buys included nearly 300,000 accident-lawyer spots and that campaigns jumped compared with prior years as firms amped up client recruitment across multiple platforms.
Hochul Answers With Legislation
Gov. Kathy Hochul has lined up a legislative package that targets staged crashes, fraudulent medical billing and other practices she blames for driving up rates. As outlined by Governor Kathy Hochul's Office, the proposals would revive the Motor Vehicle Theft and Insurance Fraud Prevention Board, let prosecutors seek criminal penalties for organizers of staged accidents, and tighten rules on out-of-state vehicle registration and non-economic damage payouts.
Voters appear to be on board. A Beacon Research survey of about 1,000 registered voters, as reported by amNY, found roughly 86 percent support for Hochul's proposed reforms and about three-quarters saying auto insurance is a financial burden on their household.
ATRA's Wider Case
The New York spending is one slice of a much bigger national picture. The American Tort Reform Association's analysis of legal-services advertising found roughly $2.5 billion spent on such ads in 2024 and highlighted rapid growth in television, radio and out-of-home buys meant to recruit plaintiffs, according to ATRA's 2017 to 2024 report.
State officials argue fraud is a key driver of costs. The Hochul administration points to more than 43,800 suspected motor-vehicle insurance fraud reports filed with the New York Department of Financial Services in 2025, and it contends that tougher enforcement and a narrower definition of recoverable non-economic damages would trim payouts and give insurers room to lower premiums, according to Governor Kathy Hochul's Office.
What It Means For Drivers
New York drivers already pay some of the country’s highest premiums, and Bankrate estimates the average full-coverage policy in the state comes in at about $4,031 a year, well above the national average. That gap is driving the current sense of urgency in Albany. Supporters of Hochul's reform push say tightening fraud rules would help lower costs for law-abiding drivers; critics from the plaintiffs' bar counter that advertising helps consumers find representation and that litigation serves as an important accountability tool.
That tug-of-war will shape how lawmakers respond to the ad boom. The fight over heavy legal advertising, alleged fraud and soaring insurance rates is playing out as New York courts are being singled out for aggressive plaintiff-side litigation in the American Tort Reform Foundation’s annual Judicial Hellholes rankings (Judicial Hellholes).
