Stringer cites ‘out of control’ legal claims

[hrmjustin]

Sally Goldenberg

New York City budgeted $674 million for legal judgments in the 2015 fiscal year, a number that is expected to rise to $782 million by the 2018 fiscal year, according to a report to be made public by the city comptroller, Scott Stringer, on Wednesday.

Stringer is unveiling a study that details legal claims against the city in recent years, in order to illustrate the high cost of such litigation.

In his study, he details a series of city agencies, including the NYPD and the Department of Parks and Recreation, to show a spike in such claims through the 2013 fiscal year, when Michael Bloomberg was still mayor.

"Despite these significant costs to taxpayers and the underlying personal injuries and/or property damage that lead to claims in the first place, New York lags behind other cities in embracing data-driven risk-management techniques that examine the thousands of cases filed against the city every year to identify patterns and improve practices," according to the 32-page report, which was released to reporters on Tuesday.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/07/8548599/stringer-cites-out-control-legal-claims?top-featured-2

[tk2kewl]

1. $137.2 million paid out last year just for claims against NYPD

In F.Y. 2013, there were more than 9,500 claims filed and upwards of $137.2 million in judgment and settlement costs against the police department, the study found. That marked the highest of any city agency that year, and the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn led the city for personal injury claims.

And I am glad to see he is going after the cause rather than painting all victims as scammers:

"We at some point have to hold agencies accountable and say if a claim is coming in time and time again for the same thing … maybe we should just change the policy, change the protocol and stop just losing money year after year," he continued.

[hrmjustin]

2. Yes. He has a good sense of what the prpoblems are and that the source of the problems...

... need to be addressed.