Judge of the Day: Jack Battaglia
This New York judge is not going to sit around waiting for the chief judge's pay raise litigation to make its way through the courts. He's taking a different route to augment his salary: filing a $1 million slip-and-fall suit.
A politically connected Brooklyn judge plans to file a $1 million lawsuit against the city after slipping on a just-mopped floor in his own courthouse, the Daily News has learned.Supreme Court Justice Jack Battaglia - who hears civil cases and earns $136,000 a year - is even targeting the courthouse cleaning lady who wielded the mop, according to legal papers.
The judge fractured his knee in the Nov. 9, 2007, tumble outside room 452 and was forced to undergo surgery and physical therapy.
In his Jan. 31 notice of claim, Battaglia accuses the city of "negligently using a mop bucket and wringer" and "negligently using a mop and soapy water" to create a "dangerous and hazardous traplike condition."
Sounds like there could have been some bad blood between Battaglia and the cleaning lady, with her going around the courthouse setting up traplike conditions.
Or maybe cleaning ladies with vendettas are not to blame. Battaglia is part of an illustrious line of judges -- current and former, federal and state -- who have lodged slip-and-fall suits. E.g., Robert Bork, Paul Chernoff, and George Schiavelli. Are judges just an uncommonly clumsy lot?
Update: Eric Turkewitz writes: "The million dollar claim in Judge Battaglia's suit was from a Notice of Claim, which must be filed within 90 days of the occurrence. Essentially, you are required to put a number in this document even before you know what the injuries will really be. The number, however, doesn't go in the Complaint that starts the suit. In other words, it was really just a cheap shot by the Daily News."
Additional thoughts from Eric Turkewitz on the case appear over at New York Personal Injury Law Blog.
Judge suing city for $1M after fall on wet courthouse floor [New York Daily News]
Brooklyn: judge sues janitor (and city) [Overlawyered]
Judge Suing City for $1M Makes Headlines. Why? [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]
(23) Comments
Sue, fine. Get your medical expenses paid for. If it's a serious injury and longterm rehab it could run up pretty high.
But $1 million? Come on.
Maybe the court will order the cleaning lady to be the judge's butler. It could be a great premise for an NBC sitcom.
$136k in NY - - Wow, what is that like $40k in most cities. I would sue their asses too!!
Doesn't workers' compensation foreclose this suit?
I thought that In New York, you can no longer include a monetary amount in a personal injury complaint. Am I right? Wouldn't the judge know that?
Sissy
I believe that workers' comp forecloses the suit only if the judge makes a claim and accepts a settlement from workers' comp.
I sued Wal-Mart for a slip and fall. Wal-Mart's lawyers tried to jew me down during court ordered mediation, but I stuck to my guns and walked away with a nice $50 gift card, which I subsequently used to buy 3 cases of Natural Light.
Bork. Borkbork. Bork Bork. borkBork. Bork Bork Borkbork. Bork. Bork. BorkborkBork. BorkBork. borkborkBorkbork &c.
How many shingles does it make pancakes? Yeah, Judge Battaglia, think about that!
1) The irony of the suit is that Justice Battaglia was assigned to handle cases in the "City Part". For those unfamiliar with the set-up in the NYC branches of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, for the City's convenience, the Court has certain designated judges who handle 99% of the law suits brought against the City of New York.
2) Worker's Compensation does not bar a suit against the City of New York because Justice Battaglia is not a City employee. He is employed by the State of New York. The Supreme Court building is maintained by contract by the City of New York.
3) I am offended by the reference in Peanut Butter Penis' comment about being "jewed" down. Bigotry and racism (in this case, in the form of an anti-semitic remark), even when purportedly masked as humor (even when not funny), is always inappropriate.
12:23 - Awesome.
This case reminds me of Roy Pearson (the ALJ who sued the dry cleaners for $54M). Pearson was not re-affirmed to the bench after losing his suit. While this suit is not nearly as frivolous, I would have expected judges to be a little more wary than this. Maybe with such low salaries, judges don't feel like they have much to lose...
He's just lucky it wasn't a spring gun
I nominate John Yoo, fugitive war criminal, for the next lawyer of the day!
As someone who has had the remarkable displeasure of arguing before Justice "Jack" Battaglia, I can tell you this lawsuit comes as no surprise. There used to be a whole motley crew of anti-City justices throughout the boroughs - Victor in the Bronx, Smith in Manhattan and Jackie B. in BK. Victor was recently ejected from the part (I think only vitriol and caffeine was sustaining him for the past 5 years), and now Battaglia has had to recuse himself from hearing City cases. For all city lawyers, this is a huge boon.
11:12,
You're right. I don't know how they got that $1M figure. You can't include a dollar amount in a personal injury suit in New York.
best thing about the new format of this site is that it sucks so bad that i will never check the site again. i will actually make my bonus this year afterall.
**You're right. I don't know how they got that $1M figure. You can't include a dollar amount in a personal injury suit in New York.**
That's because it comes from a Notice of Claim, where the amount is required to be stated and which must be filed within 90 days of the incident. There is no actual lawsuit that has been started.
--Eric
do all new york state judges make the same? that's pretty nuts if a manhattan judge makes the same as one in a ttt up-state area. judges in buffalo don't deserve a raise.
I enjoy that he called it a traplike condition. I have never heard of a soapy floor trap, but perhaps I am not a crafty schemer like members the City of New York janitorial staff.
"trap-like" is boiler plate language for any PI Notice of Claim or complaint, because plaintiff's attorneys are too busy counting their settlement dollars to be original. And they're lazy.
yeah, lazy and rich, those crazy plaintiff lawyers
Had it been a visitor or another state employee (a clerk, perhaps) who slipped and fractured his or her knee, requiring surgery and PT, would people's responses have been different?
So upon election to this seriously underpaid position, one loses his/her civil rights to seek rederess from the courts?
At this point there is no exact dollar amount demanded; the amount is just a figure in a notice of claim. It doesn't really mean he will actually seek $1 Million. At this point, he is presumably still recovering and getting physical therapy. What if his doctors tell him he will always walk w/ a limp for the rest of his life, or that he will always have pain? Before everyone condems a man for suing for his injuries, think about what you would do in his situation. As for suing the cleaning lady, who probably makes a very decent salary for a person w/ barely a HS education and who gets numerous paid days off and vacation days and benefits, don't worry; her employer is required to indemnify (take responsibility for any judgments against her) and provide a defense.