Central Park Rotten Tree Branch Lawsuit Worth $120 Million

Maybe if people took a little personal responsibility we could reduce these types of accidents. This unfortunate man was walking in the park with ear buds stuck in his head. Witnesses at the scene stated they yelled at him and tried to warn him that the limb or something was coming down. The limb made a tremendous noise as it cracked and fell through the tree making even more noise as other branches and limbs cracked. Not only did it make noise, it moved much slower then you would think as it came crashing through the tree. This is NYC and if you want to eliminate the sense of hearing, you should be aware that bad things can and do happen. I wish this man a speedy recovery and let it be a lesson to others.

Can you document what you just said? I mean the ear buds thing. Just the other day I saw some dizzy broad walk right out into traffic with her iphone plastered to her skull like she was in her living room. A cabbie blew his horn and I yelled out, "Run over the bitch!"

Where does this guy live? I'm just curious.

I certainly hope the guy makes a full recovery and his employment benefits are covering the medical expenses but blaming a tree branch on the city and cpc is ridiculous

it's kinda crazy but i've been seeing a huge influx of people walking around that area now.....

Wait till the next big windstorm...

BS lawsuit. There are risks to life. You walk in the park and trees can fall on you. You cross the street you can get hit by a car. Some risks are more likely than others. I kinda wish he would have gotten struck by lighting to see who he'd try to sue then.

I read a story recently that a woman, I believe it was up in the Bronx, that was complaining because falling leaves hit her sidewalk. A rotten limb is one thing, but can you imagine getting hit by hundreds if not thousands of falling leaves? All within a week or two.

Kinda like my time(s)in Tahiti. Coconut Palms everywhere, but go on a commercial property and there's always the signs in English & French (& now Japanese),

but never Polynesian: "Danger : Beware of falling coconuts!". You hear one of those suckers hit the ground from 30-40 feet up, you know they'll do some serious head damage. Makes you look up before choosing your lounge chair.

But sometimes stuff happens. Check out the elms in Stuyvesant Park. Some have obvious signs of old fractures. But the "Parkie" there keeps on it, checking and roping off where needed. Still, some major crashes during the past 2 years.

If he wants to tap all the trees, he should move to Vermont and buy a sap bucket.

suing a park just makes you look like a big asshole.

pretty soon you'll have to sign a release every time you walk in the park, or they'll have to post disclaimers at every entrance.

walk/run at your own risk.

So who do you sue when you're struck by lightning....

God

Believe me, they've tried, but its impossible to sue me when you can't serve me papers. No postal service can reach the pearly gates since I tend to banish all postal employees to hell.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7673591.stm

In lieu of their almost-certain large payout, maybe the lawyers (and paintiffs) would be happy if the Conservancy just cut down all the trees in the park so it doesn't happen again.

While they're at it, they can drain the lakes, put rubber mats over all the rocks, and smooth out some of those nasty hills.

It sucks what happened to him, and I would agree with covering his medical bills and some sort of restitution for lost time at work, but $120 million is a ridiculous number...

Is Gothamist recirculating their stories? Didn't I see this earlier this week? Same goes for the Billy Joel's daughter story.

Snoop—the new news is the amount of the lawsuit and the lawyer's quote.

The problem is the recycling of the photos makes them seem identical.

Good point—will make some changes. Thanks.

Let's see you get hit with not only a 100 lb (!!) tree branch but also sustain multiple operations and (presumably) hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills - plus lost wages for the rest of your life and see how you feel about a multimillion dollar lawsuit that will probably be negotiated for much less than the proposed amount. Just sayin'.

It's terrible what happened to this guy, but in no way shape or form does it make him deserving of $120 million of taxpayer money. Tree branches fall, it happens. The city/parks dept can't be expected to chop down every shaky branch before it falls. If you run under a tree, you are taking the (admittedly small) risk that something will fall out of said tree and onto your skull. Why is it somehow okay to try to steal other people's money just because something bad happened to you?

Sometimes I wonder, with these big lawsuit damage amounts, if the goal is to try to get the city to settle for much less (but still a substantial amount).

Any tort lawyer will tell you to sue for more than you want. Suing is like haggling. If you ask for only what you think you should get, you'll only get less.