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Councilwoman Letitia James is ramping the legal pressure up in her personal injury lawsuit against an itinerant laborer after she allegedly injured herself walking into his legally parked truck.
James, who is also an attorney, has retained high-powered and politically connected attorney Sanford Rubenstein, whom she has known for 25 years.
And Rubenstein can’t wait to take this controversial — and much-mocked — case to the jury.
“My client looks forward to a jury hearing the case and making a determination of what damages she’s entitled to,” said the Court Street lawyer. “There is a permanent scar on her leg and she’s also concerned that others can be injured by the dangerous conditions on this vehicle.”
Rubenstein was referring to the now notorious events of July 11, when James, according to her court filings, sustained “serious, severe and permanent [injuries] to her limbs and body” after she walked into a four-inch trailer hitch protruding from David Day’s parked car.
She’s seeking unspecified damages.
Rubenstein, who has hosted political fundraisers for the likes of Reps. Charles Rangel and Ed Towns in his luxurious Manhattan penthouse, said he took the case on merit and will charge his usual fee — a percent of the winnings.
“As in any case, I will work on contingency and a jury will decide the damages,” said Rubenstein.
When reminded that Day makes about a tenth of James’s $122,500 Council salary, Rubenstein responded that the issue isn’t how much Day makes, but the danger that his protruding trailer hitch is still causing to the general public.
James (D–Fort Greene) has said she will drop the case if Day just takes the hitch off his van — but Day is showing some of his native Texas toughness.
“How you can you go around telling people to remove their livelihood,” said Day in a long southern drawl. “I put the trailer hitch on there with my money in order to make money. It’s what I use to make money — to move my things and to hook a trailer to my van. I would love to take it off and make her happy, but that reasoning is stupid.”
Day maintains that it is James who is liable and negligent for walking into his parked car.
“If they get a law for everyone to remove [hitches], then I’ll gladly remove my trailer hitch,” he added. “If it’s good for one, it’s good for everybody, but it’s totally wrong to tell me to remove mine while millions of people have one on their vehicles.”
In the hours after The Brooklyn Paper’s Web site broke the story of James’s lawsuit, the Councilwoman has been the subject of considerable mockery on the Internet.
“[She is an] idiot who is suing a man because she bumped her shin,” posted “Bob.” “The people who agree with her are part of the problem with New York City.”
Another commenter, Winston Smith, added, “How dare this peasant even park anywhere near the same block as this woman. Doesn’t he know who she is!?!?!?”
©2010 Community Newspaper Group
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