Bloomberg Not Happy About $2.4 Million Subway Lawsuit Payout

Only in America........

This drunk loser should've known better. Taxpayers money is not supposed to pay for other people's mistakes.

As for him being mistaken for trash.......does anyone see the joke here?

This money would be better spent on retraining investment bankers.

retraining investment bankers

To find new and exotic ways of crippling entire economies?

Is Bloomberg saying that the verdict is "unconscionable"?

Great.

Our tax money flying out the window to some drunk ass who couldn't keep himself off the tracks.

This is a tough call, but I think the jury did the right thing. They decided how much this guy's injuries were worth, and then reduced it by the percentage that they thought was his fault.

If you are driving a train and see a big pile of something on the track, you should stop. What if, instead of being drunk, the kid had a seizure or just simply fell -- would it still be ok to run him over?

Yep. Now, like Bloomberg, I wasn't in the courtroom or on the jury but just jumping to conclusions based on what I've read in the NY Post I would agree with that in concept but probably flip the roles: he's 70% responsible, the MTA 30%.

IT's cheaper to build a plastic wall like Hong Kong did in its subway system

This can happen eventually if the TA continues with their plan to roll out R160's and opt not to buy any 75 foot cars.

Of course, it will be yet another thing that can break down and cause delays.

IT's cheaper to build a plastic wall like Hong Kong did in its subway system

The JFK Airtrain has them too. They require standardized train equipment, which most subway lines don't have.

NYC Transit paid out nearly $50 million last year in personal injury lawsuits brought by its riders, a jump of nearly 40% from 2004.

"And I think a lot of us should be a little more responsible for our own behavior."

to:

"the city wants to invest $45 million in government money to retrain investment bankers, traders and others who have lost jobs on Wall Street"

Be right back. Jumping in front of a J train for MASSIVE PAYOFF.

Now.. where did I put that Benedryl...?

Hopefully that litigious trashheap will stumble off another platform counting his money and a conductor obeying all the rules and obligations will finish him off. Parasite.

Perfect sentiments.

Conductors don't operate trains. They open and close doors. Motormen operate trains.

Actually the official title currently in the MTA is Train Operator. The people who drive buses are Bus Operators.

I dont get why they used that pic?

What most of the news articles on this are not reporting is that the jury did find that he and the MTA shared responsibility. Damages were placed at $3.5 million; he was awarded $2.3 million on the basis of being 30% responsible for the accident.

Stopping a 450 ton train coming into a station around 20MPH within 180 feet? Kinda hard to do, especially if you factor in the reaction time and attempting to make the call about what's on the dark tracks in front of you.

"Stopping a 450 ton train coming into a station around 20MPH within 180 feet?"

No way it would have been going anywhere near that fast -- probably more like 5 mph. The guy was on the tracks in the station, so the train would have only had to stopped somewhat early, with the front at the beginning of the platform.

What was no doubt most important to the jury deciding that the train have could have stopped in time was the operator's testimony. That is, he directly said that he could have and made the conscious decision to proceed.

Exactly....since god knows there is never, ever trash on the tracks in the NYC subway.

I think the main point of the (idiot) drunk's lawyer was that the conductor didn't even bother to stop. If it was demonstrated that he attempted a panic stop the jury would have probably come to a different conclusion.

While I side with those that say the drunk was a fool, it doesn't mean that the conductor didn't have an obligation to try to prevent what happened.

I agree with evidiot #2.

Last week when a man was sadly hit by two cars and dragged 17 miles, thus reducing his body to head and arms only, no one was blamed and thus no one will be sued. It was a sad loss of life combined with horrific gore, but it hasn't even been determined if this guy shouldn't have been crossing the street when he was. If he was drunk, no one will ever know, but we do know that some drunk asshole fell on the train tracks and had he not been drunk, he probably wouldn't have, regardless of the train conductor. The subway tunnels aren't lit well and mistaking a drunken buffoon for trash makes perfect sense to me.

If we get rid of his other leg for another $2 million, maybe he won't ever be able to stumble onto the tracks again, so we might as well get it over with before standard practice becomes $10 million per leg rather than $2 million.

Chances of this idiot being involved in something stupid that makes the paper within the next year is pretty high if you ask me.

Of course the conductor should have tried to stop if it was possible. But it's the kid's own fault for standing right by the edge of the track. If he lost his balance while standing in the middle of the platform, he wouldn't have fallen in the first place.

Dibble is probably right up at the top of the ballot for a Darwin award. Idiot.

A drunk kid stumbling onto the subway tracks IS a trash heap.

Um, what about the personal responsibility of the train operator who didn't bother to slow down when he saw something on the track? I had the same knee-jerk reaction to the headlines but when you read how the driver had plenty of room to stop but didn't, Ii think the case was awarded justly.

If I'm driving a car and run over someone (drunk, incapacitated, or just plain stupid), I'm still liable.

No on was charged with that guy that was dragged from Corona to Coney Island.

If I'm driving a car and run over someone (drunk, incapacitated, or just plain stupid), I'm still liable.

Unless you run over a cyclist. If Dibble had his Schwinn next to him on the tracks, he would've gotten zip.

Pretty much spot on. The headlines shouldn't be "Drunk hit by train gets $2.5 mil". It should be "MTA pays $2.5 mil because operator didn't follow proper procedure".