When even money doesn’t matter you know we’re in trouble. The New York Post reported today that the ceilings of several subway stations that last year were found to be riddled with water damage are still not scheduled for repair, The findings come just three days after bricks rained down from the ceiling of the 181st Street station, striking the tracks and a No. 1 train. It’s only a matter of time before a passenger is hurt, or killed. And, then what. I’ll tell you what. The MTA will get what’s it deserves when personal injury lawsuits start raining down on them. And, it all could be prevented if management of the bedraggled authority could only see further than the noses on their collective faces. The Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee in 2008 gave 16 stations an “F” grade for water-leakage problems. Only three of them are scheduled for renovations over the next five years.
In a city where most public services don’t really work, it’s amusing sometime to see what gets peoples’ dander up. Back in January a 4 year old boy didn’t arrive home on time from day care because the driver of his school bus said he got lost, which resulted in a three-hour search with police until they found the bus, and the boy, 20 minutes from his Parkchester home. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to the boy save the wetting and soiling of the pants he was wearing. Now the family is suing the bus company for what the boy’s parents say was negligence in hiring and training practices and for putting their son in danger. Although what danger, if any, the boy was actually in has yet to be made clear. I would like to invite any New Yorker with a New York horror story, which is most of us, to share their story with other bloggers on this site. I bet if every one of these stories resulted in a law suit, the courts wouldn’t have time to hear the cases of people who have truly been abused, or injured, or killed because of the negligence inherent in the whole system.
Four years ago my doctor told me to start taking one baby aspirin every day. He said it was good for almost everything that ails you and the big benefit is clearer arteries. So take them I have, religiously, every night, one St. Joseph’s baby aspirin, the same brand my mother used when I was a child. Oh, forgot to tell you, I’m in my 50s.
The accident over the weekend on the Hudson River in Manhattan involving a tourist helicopter and a fixed winged airplane, sadly came as little surprise to this New Yorker. I have watched these strangely-shaped machines take off from their paddocks at 38th Street and 12th Ave. hundreds of times. The aerodynamics of a helicopter totally befuddle me.
As a dog lover it pains me to maiign any single breed. But there does seem to be evidence enough to suggest that two breeds in particular pose the greatest threat to people. Which calls into question the recent incident in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn where a vicious pit pull bit two children, sending one to the hospital for stitches. The dog’s clueless owner, all the while, insisting the animal wouldn’t hurt anyone without being provoked. One of the “provokers” was a 4-year-old who was bitten in the face while him mom pushed him in a stroller. The child received stitches at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. According to Animal People, an animal advocacy group, pit bull terriers and Rottweilers together commit about two-thirds of the reported animal attacks on humans in the U.S. One personal injury lawyer I talked to said that the owner of any animal is responsible for all of the damages caused by the animal, if the owner knew, or should have known, the animal was capable of being vicious and could cause injury to a person. “Not only are there medical costs,” said Richard Gurfein, of the Manhattan law firm Gurfein/Douglas, “but the associated pain and suffering takes it’s toll, particularly if the victim is a child.” Perhaps it going to take a civil suit against the negligent owner of this pit bull before he will take the necessary precautions to prevent his dog from harming anyone else. I, for one, would like to see that happen.
I read an article last year by Richard Gurfein, a New York personal injury lawyer, where he questioned whether the spate of drownings a local area beaches in July of 2008 would sound enough of an alarm to convince municipal authorities to redouble efforts to protect bathers’ lives. As it turns out, Gurfein was right. One year later, another spate of drownings at area shores, and instead of redoubling efforts to help insure public safety, The New York Post reports on an Orchard Beach lifeguard station that looks like a house on fraternity row, with cases of beer piled outside and a pair of workers guzzling brew at their desks. City regulations clearly bans alcohol in parks, and according to one chief lifeguard, that includes lifeguard stations. The Post’s discovery of the use of alcohol by lifeguards came two days after a lifeguard at Rockaway Beach was suspended for wearing headphones that could have prevented him from hearing calls for help from swimmers. For decades, safety experts have ripped the city’s lifeguard program for lax training and standards. Lifeguards are public-safety providers. If they fail, people die. I believe the public has the right and expectation to count on them, just like they would count on police officers and firefighters. Perhaps these operator will only learn their lesson when they find themselves on the paying end of millions of dollars in negligence lawsuits.
Well I haven’t seen this one before. But then again, I’m not a lawyer. It appears as if the family of the children killed in the Taconic car crash plans to sue Diane Schuler’s family. They claim Schuler’s family had to know the deadly driver had problems with drugs and alcohol. The victim’s lawyer’s position is that anyone who was aware that she was drinking is an accomplice. As horrific as this tragedy must be for the dead children’s family, it’s hard to see how Schuler’s family could be held responsbile for her deadly actions. Alcoholics and people addicted to drugs can go for years fooling others and hiding their self-destructive behavior from even their own family. I suppose if Schuler had a history of being stopped, or arrested, for reckless driving, or drinking and driving, then the victim’s family might have a valid argument. But, absent that, unless Schuler’s family watched her pour all that vodka, down her throat and smoke the marijuana, I, for one, can’t see how they could be held accountable for her crime. According to media accounts of the incident, Schuler had left a campsite in Sullivan County, NY, with the children in tow around 9:30 a.m. Her husband left in a separate car at the same time. He has said his wife was fine when they parted ways.