How can a bike share operation be the subject of a $15 million lawsuit? Where does personal injury law end and common sense begin? Or is the lawsuit one that has total merit?
These are all questions facing Ronald Corwin, 73, and his personal injury lawyers, who are suing Citi Bike and New York City for $15 million in what is probably the first large personal injury lawsuit against the bike share since its launch in May.
seems to be the first big personal injury lawsuit against the bike share since the system’s launch last May.
The Connecticut man filed the injury lawsuit after hitting a concrete barrier near a Citi Bike docking station, which he claims flipped his bike and resulted in nerve damage. He claims he cannot now smell, with everything smelling of cardboard. Such is the essence of a personal injury lawsuit.
Citi Bike’s contract with the city protects the city from claims, placing responsibility for lawsuits solely on the operator. The city declined to comment on pending litigation.
The pleadings filed by the plaintiff claim Corwin didn’t see the 6-foot wide, 6-inch tall “wheelstop” because it blended in with the road.
Although there weren’t any cones or colored markings to indicate the concrete barrier at the time, both were implemented after another man went airborne after a run-in with the same “wheelstop” later that month.
