| On LIRR Worker Hurt In Golf Club Mud
Jury Quickly Finds Railroad Liable for
$84,000
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 3 – Gregory Boeckel
while working for the Long
Island Railroad was injured
pushing an LIRR vehicle out of
the mud on the Glen Head
Country Club golf course, and
sued.
On June 10,
2021 U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge Paul A.
Engelmayer held a proceeding.
Inner City Press covered
it.
Judge
Engemayer inquired into the
significance of the frolick
and detour on the golf course
- couldn't the plaintiff have
been injured in mud on LIRR
right of way land?
On November 16,
Judge Engelmayer held another
conference in the case, which
Inner City Press also covered.
Present were Marc Twyman
Wietzke for the plaintiff,
Gregory Boeckel, and
Christopher Pogan for the
LIRR.
Judge
Engelmayer expressed
displeasure with the parties'
cavalier approach to discovery
deadlines, particularly with
respect to expert discovery.
He agreed
to waive some deadline but not
the ultimate one: that expert
depositions must end by
November 30. If they are not
deposed they cannot testify.
Judge Engelmayer told them,
You know I am flexible, if you
ask for extensions. But this
was disrespectful to the
court.
On February 17,
in preparation for trial,
Judge Engelmayer held another
proceeding. Inner City Press
again covered it. Judge
Engelmayer ruled that LIRR's
surveillance video of Boeckel,
because it was not produced or
disclosed early enough, cannot
come in at trial.
On May 31, Inner
City Press went to the trial.
LIRR Andy Martinez was called
by Boeckel's lawyer; an
incident report filled out the
morning after the incident was
shown to the jury, that
Boeckel was even then
complaining of pain. Then, out
of order, LIRR called William
Gonzalez who was asked if
construction work for the
railroad could lead daily to
pain. Apparently yes.
On June 2, the
jury deliberated and returned
a verdict for the plaintiff,
Boeckel, finding his injury
was 90% caused by LIRR's
negligence. It awarded him
$53,500 in lost earnings and
$30,000 pain and suffering.
The case is
Boeckel v. Long Island
Railroad Company, 19-cv-11234
(Engelmayer).
***
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