INJURED ILLEGAL ALIEN GOT $5.25M CITY PAYOFF
By MURRAY WEISS, NY Post
The city paid an illegal-immigrant repairman from Hungary who fell off a Rikers Island roof $5.25 million because of a loophole that let small contractors avoid insuring their workers, The Post has learned.
The extraordinary settlement, reached in February, stemmed from a failure to include a routine indemnification clause in a $98,500 Correction Department contract with the now-defunct C&Z Contractors, of Queens.
Such a clause would have barred injured workers from suing the city.
Instead, the city found itself on the hook when Roland Hocza tumbled 20 feet, breaking both wrists and some vertebrae, on Jan. 23, 2006.
Prior to that, the city had not required small contractors to provide insurance protection on jobs under $100,000. It has since changed its policy, requiring indemnification on all work.
Hocza's illegal status surfaced in his lawsuit and therefore cannot be used against him. He essentially has been indemnified -- from deportation.
City lawyers at first said Hocza, 30, could simply return to Hungary, where he had family and could receive free medical care. During the trial, however, they threw in the towel.
His lawyer, Barry Washor, said Hocza, who came here in 1999, still has difficulty moving and can no longer drive.
7 comments:
Damn hungarian jews. Diversity at its best....
are you freakin kidding me?
I want to know what kind of punishment the contractor who hired this illegal employee is going to get. He put this person in harms way. I can't imagine that this illegal immigrant had the proper licensing or education to do the job required. I'm not saying he's stupid, I'm just saying that legal job sites, with legal employees require certain things that an illegal immigrant wouldn't have.
America, land of opportunity.
Let's place the blame where it belongs. We're shelling out big bucks to an injured illegal because the lawyers in the City Corporation office can't figure out all the angles when they write the contracts. As usual, it's not until the taxpayers have to pick up an enormous bill needlessly that they realize their error. Meanwhile, the contractor is sitting pretty, not paying insurance, hiring illegals and profiting handsomely.
My Hungarian Grandfather jumped ship. Bet just about everyone had at least one relative who did the same. Throw us all out and give the land back to the Indians. They did a better job anyway and were more civilized.
and i dont no
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