One I-87 suit down, one to go
Family’s $25M wrongful-death claim still pendingBy CHRIS KNIGHT, Enterprise Senior Staff Writer
A state appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the state by the family of Alfred Langner, the Brooklyn man who froze to death after his car crashed off the Adirondack Northway in the town of North Hudson in January 2007.
But a separate wrongful-death claim seeking $25 million from the state is still pending.
Both actions allege the state was negligent in maintaining the highway and failed to provide cell-phone service or any other means of emergency communications in the area where the accident occurred.
Langner and his wife Barbara were returning home from a wedding in Montreal around 2 a.m. on Jan. 25, 2007 when their car skidded off the road, struck an embankment, went airborne and came to rest in a grove of trees. Hidden from the view of passing motorists, the car wasn't discovered for another 33 hours. The Langners suffered serious injuries in the crash and were trapped inside in subzero temperatures.
Unable to get cell phone service to call for help, Alfred Langner, 63, died of hypothermia. Barbara Langner survived but suffered severe frostbite.
In November 2007, Jeremy Marc Langner, the executor of Alfred Langner's estate, filed a wrongful-death claim against the state. According to court documents, he claimed the state was "negligent in failing to remove snow and ice from the roadway, in failing to properly design and construct the roadway and in failing to provide suitable cell phone service or other means of emergency contact."
But the case was dismissed by the state Court of Claims in May 2008.
The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court upheld that decision in a ruling issued last month, finding the initial "notices" of claim failed to name the state as the defendant or show how it was negligent. The claim itself was found to be untimely.
But Andrew Weitz of New York City, the attorney handling the case for the Langner estate, filed a separate wrongful death claim against the state in March of 2008, within a two-year statute of limitations from the date of Alfred Langner's death. That case is still pending.
The case makes the same negligence claims, including allegations that the state was negligent in the design, construction and maintenance of the highway where the accident took place. The claim also states that the Langners made "numerous attempts to call for help" but "were unsuccessful due to the (state's) failure to timely implement a well settled plan for cell tower coverage in the area."
The latest claim seeks $25 million from the state for "severe and serious personal injuries, conscious pain and suffering, mental anguish and related damages including but not limited to wrongful death."
Several messages left for Andrew Weitz were not returned.
A spokesman for state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo declined to comment on the case.
The Langner case sparked an outcry among politicians and the public over the lack of cell-phone service on a remote, 50-mile stretch of Northway.
Verizon Wireless later proposed a network of 13 cell towers to help close the coverage gap, the first of which was activated in North Hudson in October 2008. Four sites have now been activated, and a fifth is scheduled to go into service before the end of the year, according to a news release from Verizon.
Two other cell towers are in the works in North Hudson. Verizon and T-Mobile are each planning to put up a new tower near the High Peaks Rest Area on I-87. The proposals are scheduled to come before the state Adirondack Park Agency, which requires any new towers to be "substantially invisible," at its meeting next week.
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Contact Chris Knight at 891-2600 ext. 24 or cknight@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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contrary1
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09-07-09 8:25 AM
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This has been happening for decades. Remember the emergency call boxes? It took them 20 years to put phones in the freakin' things! How can Verizon or anyone else make money providing cell towers, when they KNOW they'll be spending millions in litigation fighting eco-developers like the Adirondack Council? If real estate agents weren't so convinced that the maximization of their profit potential inviolved keeping technology out of the area, these so-called environmentalists wouldn't mind them so much. Human nature being what it is, the quest for real estate profits has caused every non-investor class individual in the area, to live 100 years behind the rest of America, technologically. Like Keene Valley, when the appropriate class has a clear majority, they will allow cell towers. Until then, people like this are collateral damage. All because of Bob Marshall and his Wilderness Park.
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twinrivers
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09-05-09 12:17 PM
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The state police had a plan that wasn't adopted - it was too expensive?. The lack of towers was not do to the good work of environmental groups - although I certainly appreciate their efforts to be sure we didn't end up destroying our landscape as has happened elsewhere. The lack of towers was an economic problem - the state didn't have money to build accepted plan and no private carrier would build because they couldn't make enough money. The efforts by environmental groups,elected officials and , along with efforts to identify co-location spots has resulted in steadily improving coverage, without a bunch of ugly towers. This won't prevent accidents or deaths of course.
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TLNative
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09-04-09 6:33 PM
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I don't think the State of New York should be held resposible. Unfortunately so many things come into play here. Could it be inexperience on the part of the driver who despite being in his 60's, but living in a different area of the state had limited experience driving on these road conditions. I think the bare road policy of the state which was adopted for the 80 olympics should be reconsidered. It seems that roads never get really dry but stay wet as salt keeps ice melting. The least little temperature change or little area where temperatures seem to dip, turn wet roads into skating rinks, difficult for even the most experienced driver. Another factor is that some people think they invinceable when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. So many things can be said or questioned in this situation, but I think human error coupled with road conditions was the major factor here not negligence by the stste. We need to stop blaming others for our misfortunes.
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Jharris
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09-04-09 3:26 PM
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Lawsuit hungry lawyers and $$ hungry people. What did people do before cell phones were invented?? Technology NEVER replaces common sense, and you can't blame the State of NY because you made a poor error in judgement, which resulted in a fatal accident.
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vendor
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09-04-09 1:59 PM
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I would have to say blaming the state is a reach. Sue the Adirondack Council, they bragged that they kept cell towers from being built.
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contrary1
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09-04-09 1:43 PM
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In an area consumed by class warfare, we're not people, we're collateral damage. How else do you explain the lack of influence "we the people" have? It looks like America's lawyers changed the definition of people, like they did torture. After all, only people can use cell phones. I was born a people, but somewhere along the way I turned into collateral damage. Isn't it odd, I looked in the mirror just now, and don't look any different than when I was constitutionally protected.
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PhilipW
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09-04-09 12:56 PM
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There are other long stretches of highways in the eastern US which had, at that time, no cell service. In 2007 a couple drove off the road into a swamp along I-95 in NC where no cell signal and died unnoticed until the family hired a pilot to fly the route. APA nor the state were to blame.
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silenceisgolden
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09-04-09 12:23 PM
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Should NYS post a disclaimer at the Canadian border on I-87 to the effect, 'travel between here and Saratoga Springs at your own risk'? Maybe. It is a desolate stretch of highway. People should be responsible to look at their route in advance to determine the potential for disaster of driving it in winter at 2AM. But people might figure EVERY road is safe unless BIG BOLDLY-LETTERED SIGNS tell them otherwise. NYS should adopt the CYA manuevers that are SO necessary in our litigious society.
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ADKDUDE
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09-04-09 11:02 AM
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Is this a "it takes one to know one" moment? I think yes...
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FishCric
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09-04-09 10:44 AM
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It's simplistic but the APA is murdering people. I hope all the eco nuts choke on their wheat germ:) roads are ugly get rid of them. idiots
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