[Yasmin] Rahman tried to commit suicide in 2001 by jumping in front of a subway train. NYPD officers saved her life. She was 15. Now, 27, she’s suing the city for $7 million, claiming the city and the NYPD posted pictures, police reports and hospital records of her failed suicide attempt on a database open to the public. She claims that has prevented her from obtaining a job.
Although her lawsuit alleges that the publication of the material has prevented Rahman from “obtaining any type of job,” a reporter “found that she actually did have a job from 2010 to 2012,” among other difficulties with the story. Rahman’s lawyer, Andrew Schatkin, commented on the $7 million demand: “I put a large figure in because if I put a small figure in I would only get that small amount. It’s not that I’m making an outsized or frankly a lie about it for a better word. I’m simply enabling a figure that would get her as much compensation as possible.” [MyFoxNY.com; Eric Turkewitz on ad damnum clauses in New York]
7 Comments
it was my understanding of New York law, that a dollar amount is not allowed in the complaint.
Well, it’s a good thing that nothing damaging will come up now when people Google her name!
“get her as much compensation as possible.”
[aside] I mean, get me as much compensation as possible.
@Doug
You are generally correct, but in this instance the first step in suing a municipality in New York is the filing of a Notice of Claim with that municipality which requires that you set forth the amount of damages you are seeking.
@Doug,
You’d be correct. The link to Eric Turkewitz’s blog explains it.
Suit taken straight from a plot line in the movie, The Incredibles: You saved my life, so now I’ll sue you. The NYPD officers risked their lives to save hers. Fiction becomes reality, and reality then becomes farce.
He can get her more money by lowering his cut….