ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Right now under New York State legislation — families are barred from taking a wrongful death case to court over grief. A local mother is pushing to change that.

It’s been almost six years since Bobbi Koval of Chili lost her son Jack after he was hit by a driver in New York City. She now finds herself in a state-wide effort for lawmakers to pass the Grieving Families Act.

The bill would give families more legal power to sue over the wrongful death of a loved one.

“After all this time, the pain still lingers,” Koval said. “My son died at 22, he never been able to have a long-term relationship, we will never have grandchildren. The anguish and the pain is unbelievable and people don’t understand that until they’re involved in it.”

Besides getting his license suspended for 90 days, the driver who struck Bobbi’s son faced no jail time or paid any fines according to court records.

Bobbi quickly learned she could not seek civil penalties because Jack was not supporting anyone financially.

“Putting a dollar amount on life is not possible,” Bobbi said. “But advocating that there should be change in this law to allow people to have some compensation for this anguish is important.”

Since the accident, the local mother has partnered with an attorney in hopes of adding focus to her goals of getting through state lawmakers.

“New York Law basically allows someone to walk free if they kill someone who had no economic earning capacity,” said Koval’s attorney, Daniel Flanzig. “So if you talk about a young child, an older person, or someone disabled, and the person responsible for killing them will face no financial responsibility.

Bobbi is determined to make sure no other families have to go through this pain. So she’s joined other activists to have lawmakers draw up the Grieving Families Act.

“This makes a difference for families,” Bobbi said. “Families that are going to have to live with this anguish forever and there’s a negligence person out there. Whether it was a driver, at a construction site, or wherever. We need to make sure we button that down so people are treated fairly.”

The Grieving Families Act still sits in the Senate Finance Committee with only one week left in the legislative session. Opposing parties such as the New York Insurance Association have disputed it, claiming it will boost the cost of the civil justice system, therefore burdening taxpayers.