We invited a Personal Injury Attorney Gregory Spektor to discuss whether the victims wounded in the recent NYC Subway Shooting by the alleged shooter Frank James can sue for their damages.

MTA Shooting

Michael Levitis  00:00

Hey, everybody, this is Michael Levitis, coming to you from JurisQ.com with a personal injury attorney, Gregory Spektor from Gregory Spektor and Associates. Gregory, welcome. Welcome back. Like usually I hear you talking about car accidents, construction cases, this is what you guys do. This is what you’re very confident in and it’s your bread and butter. Today, you want to discuss something else, very serious matter. And we’re getting a lot of questions on it. Recently. Last week, there was a big, big incident at a bus stop subway station in New York, in MTA where almost a dozen people were shot by a deranged assailant. And unfortunately, this then they this day and age, this happens very often. Violence in, in subways, subways are not safe today. And we’re getting questions. From a legal standpoint, is there anything we can do to hold the city and  MTA responsible and accountable for what is going on? Gregory? I know, it’s not an easy question. What can you contribute to this?

Gregory Spektor  01:18

The short answer is the short answer is it depends. On the long answer is, you know, it’s really not that funny, because some of these people, you know, their lives will never be the same. Right? And I guess the question is, why would we take a case like that? And at this point in the game? Yes, the answer is yes. If someone comes here and talks to us, and basically, you know, tells us how that person used to be gainfully employed and had a family and then had a life that is no longer there, then we’ll do all we can to research this matter, and to find out if somebody is at fault for this, right. And we have a lot of experience with dealing with cases involving New York City and lobbying all the city’s agencies, Department of Transportation, MTA Department of Education, you name it, we’ve dealt with, and then even to deal with, then I’d like to pay, first of all that. And second, the way that the New York State’s cold CPLR, the code that governs all civil litigation is put together, it gives municipalities sort of an easier route. And as such, you know, you’re dealing with a lot more stringent deadlines. For example, our usual statute of limitation for a negligence case is three years, when you’re dealing with New York City, it’s a year and three months,

Michael Levitis  02:57

they were doing everything they can to protect themselves from being sued. And from paying money.

Gregory Spektor  03:03

you only have 90 days to put them on notice you have to file a notice of claim within 90 days of the accident. And if it’s 90 days, that said

Michael Levitis  03:15

If you are a day late, you get injured in a in a subway or any kind of government facility, you want to have basically 90 days and you’re done, you have to go toattorney as soon as possible to protect your rights.

Gregory Spektor  03:29

And they also get a chance to ask your questions, it will be full litigation stores, the 50 H hearing, where basically it’s gonna be a deposition and then you’re gonna find that as much as possible. Right. Again, it does not scare us we deal with this all the time. The good the good side of dealing with the municipality is that they are bound by the Freedom of Information Act. Okay. And as such, they’re responsive, they’re required to disclose every and old document or report created, okay, as a result of this particular incident. Now, going back to your hypothetical with with that horrible shooting, as you know, I think after our mayor took office, a new mayor made 3000 of them so MTA police officers to the training station, right? You would expect to see an officer in every station if not in every train.

Michael Levitis  04:35

 I haven’t I don’t know I haven’t personally

Gregory Spektor  04:39

then they they spend tons of money for you know, video cameras and such. And from what I understand and again, I don’t know any particular case I did not research it but just reading the news. My understanding is not a single camera recorded that. Exactly. Had to be caught it had the he had to be you know, I ascertained by Description  lot of people. You know, you asked me at this point, do I feel that somebody was negligent? Do I feel that somebody made a mistake, it feels that way. So in order for us to, but in order for us to give that would have to go through those steps would have to get those formal documents, we’ve had to get all the accident reports and see what happened. You know, there’s there’s maintenance logs that are maintained for the station. What happened, why those cameras weren’t working? Yep, somebody somewhere, has probably made a mistake.

Michael Levitis  05:38

And Gregory, the fact that the mayor has added these 3000 Extra cops, that means they know there is a problem, right? But they are addressing it in my view, in the right and forceful manner as they could because these things happen very often in subways, you have slashings, you have shootings, you have robberies, something needs to be done, and work if they don’t, if the voters are not going to take care of it, then maybe attorneys could take care of it hit them where it hurts in their pocket, to pay attention and address these safety concerns. So what I gather from you is that if somebody, unfortunately was involved in this kind of incident and suffering was a victim, they will consult an attorney that does personal injury, somebody like you, Gregory Spektor. And the case will be analyzed from all angles. And you will see what could be done to sue the city the solid was to sue the guy that say once he belongs in the event, of course in the prison, possibly the mental institution, what can you get from him? Nothing. So

Gregory Spektor  06:49

likely, you know, like you just said, if he is a diagnosed, you know, person with mental disorders. And maybe you know, there was a mistake on his treating doctor, that

Michael Levitis  07:03

Good point!  wow, that’s another avenue  you have opened up,

Gregory Spektor  07:08

to widen to broaden your conclusion is just this, it let’s just say this, you know, anytime you’re seriously injured, especially when it’s an injury, or that kind of magnitude, when your life will navigate will now be the same. And that injury happened through absolutely no fault of your own.   You want to talk to an attorney because like I said, at some point, the knowledge, experience and reputation that we have acquired through years and years of doing this is invaluable for someone.

Michael Levitis  07:46

This is why I turned to you to get the answers to get your insight into the situation. Thank you so much for your words for sharing your wisdom. And we’ll come back to you and again and again a time we’ll have questions and time our listeners and viewers have questions on car accidents, construction cases, other types of personal injury cases. We’ll definitely be in touch. We’ll bring it back. Gregory, thank you so much. Greg, Gregory Spektor from Gregory Spektor and Associates, going to have your phone number and your website and the bottom of the screen. If anyone has any questions. Please don’t be shy. Call for free consultation. Okay, thank you. Take care. Have a great day. Take care. Bye.