| West 30 Street Heliport
Accident Triggers Demand For No Press on Call
at SDNY Denied
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Aug 7 – Ingrid Wiegand
was riding her bicycle on
Manhattan's West Side on 12th
Avenue when a helicopter from
the West 30th Street Heliport
flew just over her, sending a
down-draft of air which
knocked her off her bike. She
sued.
On August 7
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Denise L. Cote held a
telephone proceeding and Inner
City Press called it. Things
got strange quickly, so Inner
City Press began live
tweeting:
"Inner City Press
just called in to the case,
not listed as a settlement
conference. Deputy asked, Who
just joined? Inner City Press.
Lawyer said, What is your
relation to this case? Press.
Lawyers: We want you off. I:
It's not a settlement
conference. It's open
Now 2:09. The
complaint in the case
describes a helicopter
spinning out of control on
12th Avenue and 30th Street.
What's so secret?
Nothing in the docket of the
case identifies this as being
about settlement. In fact,
there's a motion to dismiss
pending. So why would the
lawyers want the press thrown
off the call - that is, out of
the "courtroom"?
Some judges in
the SDNY make a point of
saying, I do not monitor who
is on the line - it is an open
courtroom. This time, the
deputy asked, Who just called
in? So Inner City Press
answered. Twice. Then the
lawyer said, we want it
closed, and I said, it's open.
Judge Cote
comes on and says, this is
open. The lawyers don't
even make an argument. It was
pure abuse and attempt to
intimidate the press. Turns
out they are dismissing the
action without prejudice. No
subject matter jurisdiction.
Oh..."
Digging in the
docket to try to understand
the outrageous position of
these lawyers that their
Federal proceeding could be
private, we find an August 7
letter from Air Pegasus
Heliport and Abigail Trenk's
lawyer at Melito &
Adolfsen in the Woolworth
Building foreshadowing the
dismissal without prejudice.
Other named defendants:
Amazing Flight LLC, Bay Crane
Services of Connecticut, HBH
Aircraft LLC and NYON LLC.
We'll have more on this.
The case is
Weigand v. Air Pegasus
Heliport, Inc. et al.,
20-cv-2049 (Cote)
***
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