BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: The CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has reportedly been sued by his neighbor, Naomi Cohn, for $5M.
Cohn filed the lawsuit, alleging she tripped and fell on the sidewalk outside his $2.1M Brooklyn home.
Janno Lieber, who is also the chairman of MTA, has been embroiled in a legal battle with 64-year-old Cohn since August, according to the New York Post.
Cohn previously asserted that she was running on the sidewalk on October 22, 2021, when she injured herself after stumbling over a "huge crack" outside Lieber’s two-story Marlborough Road home in Victorian Flatbush.
What injuries did Naomi Cohn sustain after the accident?
Cohn, who is also an attorney, claimed that she had severe pain and sustained injuries as the result of the accident and the "effects will be permanent," according to court documents.
“He didn’t seem to be that concerned about pedestrians,” she remarked about the subway chief, noting that the pavement remained damaged up until a few months ago.
In addition to suing NYC’s transport boss, Cohn is seeking damages from Lieber’s wife, Amy Glosser, 58. She is also looking for damages against Lieber's neighbor next door, Carmencita Soriano, 76.
She said the crack was located in between both homes. However, an attorney representing Lieber and Glosser refuted Cohn's claims in a court-filed response.
Following the lawsuit, one of Lieber’s neighbors slammed him, saying, “I'm not surprised that someone in bureaucracy can't value the other spaces that people use.”
When did Janno Lieber become the MTA boss?
Lieber officially assumed the role of the MTA CEO in January 2022 after being nominated by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. However, he had already been serving in the position since July 2021.
He began his career as an attorney in private practice and had roles in the administrations of President Bill Clinton and former mayor Ed Koch.
However, Lieber infuriated several New Yorkers in July, when the MTA voted to raise the base fare for subway and bus trips for the first time in eight years.
On August 20, the price increased from $2.75 to $2.90 each trip. Lieber has already stated that he intended to redesign the turnstiles on the subway in an effort to stop the widespread fare-dodging.
He asserted that he wanted to pay special attention to the emergency escape gate, which he described as a "superhighway for fare evasion."
New York City Police Department officers have already issued 75.6% more fare-evasion tickets over the first nine weeks of 2023.
Police statistics indicated that a total of 21,360 penalties were issued as opposed to 12,154 citations during the same period in 2022.
