ALBANY – Kate Feroleto says her parents never pushed her or her brothers to become attorneys.
But the Buffalo-born lawyer witnessed the impact that her father, late personal injury attorney John Feroleto, and her mother, State Supreme Court Justice Paula Feroleto, left on the lives of their clients. She saw their goal was not to just help one person, but to make everybody safer.
“I think that’s what really drew me to it – that desire to make a difference both in individuals’ lives, but also to the greater community,” Feroleto said in a phone interview.
In June, Feroleto became the 25th president – and only the third woman – to lead the Western New York affiliate of the New York State Trial Lawyers’ Association. It was a full-circle moment for Feroleto, whose father had been one of the three founders of the affiliate in 2000. John Feroleto, the son of a construction worker and beauty salon operator, died in April at 71. Kate Feroleto was sworn in to her new position during an event at The Terrace at Delaware Park. There, her father’s life and memory were honored.
In May, the Trial Lawyers Association had posthumously honored the late attorney with an award for civility in the law. It is a legacy his daughter said she plans to follow while strengthening the Western New York affiliate, which covers Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.
“Trial lawyers, we don’t just represent clients,” Feroleto said. “Yes, we do that, and that’s a huge role for us. We’re with families in their hardest days. But we also play a role in keeping our community safer. It’s lawsuits that end up exposing unsafe practices that force accountability for a lot of companies that otherwise don’t face any. It’s often lawsuits that lead to safety changes that protect everyone. So, while sometimes we get a bad reputation, because that’s the portrait that the insurance or these corporations are trying to paint of us, it’s not it.”
On the day she spoke to The Buffalo News, Feroleto explained, she had met with a woman whose son was killed in a Buffalo area car crash. The woman was limited in the amount of insurance coverage available to her.
Increasing the minimums for state and federal insurance, which cap the amount of money that insurance providers will pay in motor vehicle and trucking crashes, is a top priority for Feroleto in her new role. The $25,000 limit for bodily injury liability insurance has not increased at the state level since 1996, according to a bill introduced by Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman, D-Queens. It has no co-sponsor in the Senate.
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Hyndman, in a memo to justify the bill, said inflation in health care has made the limits inadequate to provide the proper compensation.
For a trucking crash at the federal level, it is $750,000. Feroleto said those rates also have not been increased in decades.
“If you’re hit by a vehicle that’s carrying those minimum policy limits, and you don’t have any additional insurance yourself and you get paralyzed, you’re getting $25,000. It doesn’t matter that you’re paralyzed,” Feroleto said. “You hear these stories about these big bad lawyers doing all these things – there’s a lot of people out there that are really hurting.”
Feroleto said she also wants Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the Grieving Families Act, a bill that would allow surviving family members of the deceased to file wrongful death lawsuits seeking damages for their emotional loss. The governor has vetoed the bill the last two years.
Mayor Christopher P. Scanlon has appointed John P. Feroleto, an assistant Erie County district attorney, to fill the vacant seat on the City Court bench created by the resignation of Judge Lenora Foote-Beavers last week.
Feroleto’s passion for the law is fitting, given her bloodlines. Her parents met when they shared a carpool ride on their first day attending University at Buffalo School of Law. They built a family, legal practice and a legacy that includes one son, John P. Feroleto, a former Erie County deputy district attorney whom Mayor Christopher Scanlon recently appointed as a Buffalo City Court judge; and another son, Joel Feroleto, who represents the Delaware District in the Buffalo Common Council.
Kate Feroleto graduated from Sacred Heart Academy − where she created a scholarship fund in honor of her class − then Canisius University and UB School of Law. She became an attorney in February 2012, eventually specializing in trucking litigation, and co-chairs the Women’s Caucus of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys. She is the dean of the New York State Trial Lawyers Institute.
“Kate Feroleto embodies the passion, integrity and commitment to justice that defines the Western Region Affiliate,” Andrew Finkelstein, the president of the NYSTLA, said in a statement. “As she steps into this leadership role, she represents not only the next generation of trial lawyers, but also the enduring legacy of her father, John Feroleto, whose vision and dedication helped build this organization. I am proud to welcome Kate and a new generation of leaders who will carry our mission forward with purpose and heart.”
Feroleto worked for a time for then-Rep. Brian Higgins in Washington, D.C. Unlike her brothers and mother, Feroleto has not sought public office. She said while she has not taken that route, she feels a responsibility to others.
“I’ve just been doing that in a different way,” she said.
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Robert Gavin
Albany Bureau Chief
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