There could be a substantial torts lawsuit that comes out of the tragic death of veteran journalist Bob Simon in a car crash in New York. The driver, Abdul Reshad Fedahi, who had only one working arm after a suicide attempt, had been suspended nine times and was the source of complaints from other drivers about his erratic driving. Simon, 73, was driving in a Lincoln Town car that Fedahi, 44, crashed after grazing a Mercedes-Benz C30 in the center lane and crashing into metal poles last Wednesday.
Fedahi suffered two broken legs and a broken arm in the accident. He reportedly told police that he blacked out after being hit from behind.
Simon was not wearing a seatbelt, a common problem with passengers in taxis or car services. Simon and Fedahi both had to be cut out of the car.
Fedahi is an Afghan immigrant who previously tried to throw himself off a building. He had nine prior suspensions.
Fedahi has been fired by the company but was then rehired when new managers took over. The company is Travez Transportation, which could not face a massive lawsuit. The owner of Travez also has a financial stake in the dispatch company, Skyline Credit Ride, that CBS has used for years. Fedahi was driving on a probationary license with TLC. Fedahi began started working as a black-car driver for Skyline Credit Ride in October 2014. However, his car was owned by Travez Transportation.
The negligence in hiring and supervision would make for a classic wrongful death action based on negligence. If treated as a common carrier, the company would face an even more difficult standard but it may not be needed in this case. The history of prior incidents and complaints raise a particularly bad factual foundation for a tort case. The question is whether the car was leased by CBS and whether the network could also be sued for its own negligence in contracting with the car company. The question is whether complaints were raised with CBS about the company or the driver before the accident.
New York has a varied statute of limitations period for different types of accidents. For car accidents, the statute of limitation is three years but for wrongful death it is the more common two year period.
Was Simon driving or not? If so, where was the air bag? I wear a seat belt in hired cars, especially limos. I find cabs have the back seat so surrounded you can hardly move. I’m not sure you could find them.
If Simon was in the backseat, what happened to the driver? Where did this happen? NYC is a very big place. It sounds like speed was involved, which rules out most of Manhattan.
Limo prices are exorbitant, so lots of companies offer “a car and driver”
usually town cars (though my husband arrived home in a burgundy stretch
one day). I can’t imagine a man in that condition being a driver for one of these companies. They get out of the car and handle luggage, etc., very courteous.
I lived in NYC in the 60’s and most cab drivers were from the Bronx or Brooklyn. Very nice, usually waited until I was inside my door. Now, a cab
is like a tent. Things hang from the rear view mirror, strange music.
Walk if you can, subway at large stations. I used to walk home from work in nice weather. Up Fifth on the Park side, wide, shady, uncrowded. It’s a shame what has happened to that city. We don’t take care of our big cities like European cities do.
anyone interested in this topic should examine the death of Amy Gail buchman, Tampa FL. Her father’s former real estate holdings and all the same players. And a driver with a possibly fake or hard to trace name. It may not strike you as suspicious until you know what I know. This sad event is definitely part of the mystery
BOB SIMON!??? My GOD it sort of has to be examined at some point, the outrageous numbers of journalists lost to ‘accidents’.
Since the illegal foreclosures, we have been involved in MULTIPLE SHB fatal collisions or near collisions.
Prior, had reported only one wreck and I was the one impacted bya Werner semi truck while waiting for a green arrow. My entire driving record clean even ‘safe driver’ on my card.
Yet in less than 24 months including Saturday, we have been run off the road, plowed into or ‘nobrake lights’ on vehicle stopped suddenly. Michael Hastings was poking around Jill kelley as was I for different reasons, when he ‘hit the palm tree.
are these murders????
Meaning Petraeus via Jill Kelley. I don’t know or remember Hastings’ quest. But my own involved a real property grab where I stumbled on some type of shady connection to top macdill brass. I’m ashamed to say could not have named michael Hastings until his death but had ben reading him
His death as a journalist, and especially the circumstance, which struck me as suspicious then the rest. I had already discovered the macdill connection, had long been noting too many dead journalist and was STUNNED to see that if a month before his death, MH and I had chanced to meet we’d have been looking in the same direction, but for different reasons? Or are they so different?? Who murders or maims people over property?? what did Hastings find out that led he and I to that group or area which is ALSO within sneezing distance of the I R A group at four green fields when the AUSA owner of FGF was going for said el arian? The. Arrest of Gerry adams should have definitely put a spotlight on the FGF. This comment has been very difficult to type. Numerous misspellings and other errors have really made it difficult sorry if any escaped notice.. I know. A lot more now than I did then. Our journalists need bodyguards… maybe we all do.
Question one:
Why and how in the world did this man have a driver’s license — especially as a limo driver, and in the most congested city in America?
Driving for a company that CBS used regularly?
I was stunned to learn of his suicide attempt and driving record.
A company that makes it their business to chauffeur clients, lacks a vetting, qualification and screening process for the operators of their vehicles?
What kind of madness it this?
Reminds one of the difficulty to know your surgeon’s success rate in the operating room — or your attorney’s competence in the courtroom.
Try it sometime. You’re in for a surprise.
Again — is this madness?
Paul
It is my understanding that New York is one of a handful of states which recognizes something called pure comparative fault. The statute governing comparative negligence provides that when both the defendant and the plaintiff were somehow negligent, the judge or the jury needs to decide each party’s respective percentage of fault in the situation and award damages according to that determination. Do we know for a certainty that Bob Simon was not wearing a seat belt? If he wasn’t, does that rise to the level of negligence on his part? Does someone, riding in the back of a vehicle, have an obligation to buckle up? I don’t know the answer to that question. While your car makes funny noises when you, the driver, fails to use a seat belt, those same noises do not occur when a backseat passenger fails to buckle up.
tellingitlikeitis – someone reported earlier that NY requires all passengers to buckle up. I require my passengers to buckle up. I am not sure if it makes the funny noise for the passengers since we have never had an unbuckled passenger situation. 😉
for reasons unknown to me, “paul c. schulte” has asked “tellingitlikeitis” a question about the substantive law of new york.
it certainly appears to be a rather easy question.
tellingit?
tellingit?
buehler?
buehler?
You know this whole incident very sad …Mr Simon rest in peace, but he should have had his seat belt on, yes even in back stea, same thing killed EDDY COCHRANE in Uk driving in cab to airport…diver there was responsible, this fellow in new york, probabbly was trying to make ends meet in life tragic for him too…but this is typical of what we live in.
Who was Bob Simon? Why did he get in a livery cab of all things? Where in New York did this happen? What was the purpose of his livery ride? When is this going to end?
alan tiger
With regard to CBS, as a defendant, I raised several issues. One issue was that, by all accounts, Bob Simon was not actively “engaged” in his employment when this accident occurred. I believe that an argument can be made that this accident, and Bob Simon’s ultimate death, occurred outside the scope of his employment, after hours and on his way home. While I never claimed to be an expert on this area of the law, I still believe that an argument regarding what he was actually doing at the time of the accident. . .nothing related to his work and not on his way to anything involving his work. . .may allow CBS to be named in a direct tort claim. The law is not, for better or for worse, an exact science, so arguments can be made to support various points of view. Precedents, with regard to cases like this are extremely useful; they are not, however, dispositive. If this makes its way in front of a jury, I wouldn’t suppose to know the outcome. You cite precedents in your response, yet, at one time or another, those very precedents were, in fact, new law. The law, as you are very well aware, is not a stagnant creature. It morphs and changes, so citing precedents does not always convey what will happen in this particular situation. Again, depending upon just how aggressive Simon’s attorneys are, and how much and/or little they want to make an impact on the entire system, will dictate the direction of any potential suits.
You mention the breach to a foreseeable plaintiff without ever addressing the violation of law, if one occurred, by issuing a temporary license to transport passengers to an unqualified and dangerous individual. Not to mention, with that alleged breach being, what I consider, a contributing factor in Bob Simon’s death. If there is a duty to the public at large, but no known precedent creating a duty to this particular plaintiff, perhaps a suit may be brought by someone else or something else. . .citing a danger to the public, as a whole.