In some cases, the court has to approve the settlement. I don’t know enough of the facts here to know whether that is the case in this particular matter. In others, court supervision isn’t necessary - but in a settlement that does not require court approval, it’s the defendant that understands the following:

I had a situation once where it was the highway under the bridge that was iced up (from water coming from the bridge above) - and there was the pile-up in front of me in the right lane. I touched my brake and immediately realized I was on the ice already - too late!

It isn’t a contingent fee case - the public interest firm takes the case on a pro bono basis, and engages volunteer lawyers (usually from top law firms) to do the work, again, on a pro bono basis. (“Pro bono” is short for “pro bono publico” which loosely translates as “for the good of the people”). We’d call it a…

This case was litigated and went up through one appeal already - you might think, from a layperson’s perspective, that it does not seem complicated, but I can assure you from a lawyer’s perspective that the amount is highly likely to be reasonable.

In making the award, or approving the settlement, either the court (or the defendant) is going to want to see the billable-hour records.

I had a similar situation - while I handled my case myself to the point of beating the municipality on its motion to dismiss (three bad cases dating to the 1970's meant that the public interest firms did not see it as a god use of their resources until that point), I handed the case off to one of these (not the same…

I hate black interiors, particularly leather ones, but one of my reasons is that black absorbs heat faster and better than a light color interior. I am very partial to a very light natural leather on the inside, coupled with black, midnight blue, or a dark burgundy on the outside - but I have never gotten my…

Back in July 2017, I ordered a Lightning deal :

Back in July 2017, I ordered a Lightning deal :

Stewart Airport is about to get a new name as “New York International Airport.” It may be “small” but has at least one runway that is 11,817 feet long Runway 9-27, an East-West runway) - more than enough for a fully loaded A-380 to take off (it only needs between 5,300 and 7,000 feet for a fully-loaded takeoff).

When I was in college and trundled home drunk once, my father decided the next morning was a great time for me to hold the chisel while he (*very* accurately) sledgehammered a concrete patio in the back yard that had to be broken up and removed. The idea was to make my hangover experience so bad that it would cure me…

I came here JUST FOR THIS and was not disappointed!!!

My vehicle sits in a relatively warm garage at home. When I park at the train station, the garage structure is open and it is really cold. I figure on cold weather 1 minute of warmup, followed by creeping 6 flights down the garage ramps so by the time I get to the actual streets the engine is at operating temperature…

She has to have some sort of talent to lie the way she does withouit feeling guilty about it- and she gets paid something like $179,000/annum to do her slimy schtick at the podium. Which is better than I get paid for an honest day’s work. (Then again, I couldn’t lower myself to doing her odious work.)

Back when I was in law school in the 1970's I learned that I could take Cross Bay Boulevard into Woodhaven Boulevard from the Belt Parkway, and then get onto the eastbound Interboro (Now Jackie Robinson), and merge onto the GSP before getting off at Utopia Parkway - instead of crawling up the Van Wyck to Main Street…

That is a view headed south, just north of the bridge over Canal Street.

I’d add a caveat about the Bronx River Parkway -the portion in Westchester north of the Cross-County Parkway is nearer to its roots (even with that bit of realignment in Scarsdale) than the portion in the Bronx that seems to seamlessly transform into the Sprain, in much the same way that the Sprain seems to flow into…

I like having more information available than less. And I prefer a real gauge to an “idiot light.” But even an “idiot light” can be useful - yesterday I had the “tire pressure light” come on while I was headed north on the Garden State Parkway - I pulled off at the next service area and pulled out my 12v tire…

I wear my Fitbit Charge 2 (with a leather wristband replacing the one that gives me a rash) all the time, except when it is charging. It helps me be aspirational about getting steps, and I find that wearing it encourages me to walk up a flight of steps instead of taking the escalator - or at least walking up the…

The “Serenity” reference must have been to a Firefly-class spaceship.

Here are some alternative suggestions for Leonia: Drop the speed limit to 10 or 15 mph on local streets. Put variable-timed traffic lights at every intersection, or all-way stop signs, with gates (like at railroad crossings). Install speed bumps *and* mid-block stop signs. Close some of the streets into “dead ends” at…