Family Pushes For Law To Cover Loophole In Municipal Negligence Cases
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The family of a little girl killed on the Upper West Side is pushing for a new law that would allow families to recover financial damages when there's municipal negligence.
As WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported, a $40 million lawsuit turned into a $150,000 settlement because of what attorney Sanford Rubenstein called a loophole.
Family Pushes For Law To Cover Loophole In Municipal Negligence Cases
He said in the case of Ariel Russo, nobody from her family called 911 after she was hit by an SUV.
"There has to be direct contact between the victim or a close member of the victim's family with a city employee for them to be liable," Rubenstein said.
Ariel died in June of 2013 after an SUV jumped a curb on Amsterdam Avenue while the little girl was walking to school with her grandmother, Katia Gutierez.
A Department of Investigation report found that an emergency dispatcher went on break without seeing that a call had come in requesting aid for Ariel. The report concluded that human error was to blame for the delayed response to the crash.
The 4-year-old's mom, Sophia, said the last 22 months have been a struggle.
"The financial struggle, the physical struggle -- it's been really, really, profoundly painful," Sophia said.
Ariel's Law would hold municipalities liable for negligence regardless of who calls 911, Haskell reported.
