Richard Bernstein (left) and Michael Bloomberg.
Anyone who knows attorney Richard Bernstein knows he can be one tenacious guy.
Bernstein, 39, who was seriously injured last year after getting hit by a speeding bicyclist in Central Park, is battling the city of New York and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in federal court, pushing to make the park safer for pedestrians and handicap people.
Bernstein said the suit could have been easily settled out of court, but New York just won't budge. He's scheduled to appear in for an initial conference Friday before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York.
He tells Chad Halcom of Crain's Detroit Business:
"Pride and arrogance in governance just hurts everyone. The only thing I'm asking for in this litigation is safe passage with people with disabilities to enter and leave Central Park.
"And I am the easiest plaintiff you could ever come across, because I'm not looking for damages, and you could just find me the requisite officials who are willing to coordinate with me on a solution. But they won't even meet with me. I've never seen a defendant act this way in the course of litigation."
Bernstein, of the well-known firm Sam Bernstein Law Firm, is pushing in his suit to have crossing guards at certain points around the park so folk with disabilities can safely cross bike paths. He said the park violates laws addressing handicap rights.
The city doesn't see it that way.
Crain's reports that the city, in a court filing said:
"Central Park, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by disabled individuals…," the city's response in court states.
"Any injuries alleged to have been sustained by Plaintiff were not the proximate result of any act of Defendants but the result of (Bernstein)'s own culpable or negligent conduct or (that of) a third-party."
Bernstein was in a New York hospital for 10 weeks after breaking bones in the accident. The bicyclist, who was speeding and veered into the pedestrian lane where Bernstein was walking, apologized to Bernstein. Bernstein never sued him, but did sue the city after New York refused to listen to his suggestions to improve park safety. -- Allan Lengel
