By Tom Tracy
Askew of the truth? An East New York man says he didn’t steal money out of a woman’s bank account — the credit card company did. Cecil Askew, of Christopher Avenue, is suing Bank of America and FIA Card Services, saying an error on their part caused him to be arrested for taking money out of a woman’s Washington Mutual checking account. “…[O]n or about December 30, 2006 the Defendants Bank of America/FIA Card Services purporting to be acting on behalf of Cecil Askew drafted funds in the amount of $255.00” from the woman’s account, the lawsuit claims, “and that the aforesaid draft and withdrawal from the account … was without the Plaintiff’s knowledge or authorization.” Another withdrawal took place just shy of a month later, this time for $300. By early February, New York City police had arrested Askew, and therefore Askew “was caused to sustain serious, severe humiliation, damage to reputation and employment, psychological injuries and was otherwise damaged,” the suit further states. He is suing for $10 million for negligence and breach of credit agreement, according to paperwork filed in the New York State Supreme Court, Kings County. A Bank of America spokeswoman said that the company had yet to be served with the lawsuit by press time, and declined comment. McDebris A woman is suing an Atlantic Avenue McDonald’s after she got more of a mouthful than she anticipated when she bit into a sandwich at the fast-food eatery. The woman, Martene Rivers, alleges in a lawsuit recently filed in Kings County Supreme Court that “approximately 8:00 p.m., the plaintiff … had purchased certain food items, including a hamburger, from the defendants,” a McDonald’s located at 2800 Atlantic Ave. “She bit into the hamburger which contained pieces of debris, which the hamburger was served in,” the suit claims. It was unclear what kind of “debris” Rivers found in her dinner, but it was apparently noticeable enough to render Rivers “sick and disabled, and upon information and belief, some of her illness and symptoms are of a permanent nature and character, and she has suffered and continues to suffer physical pain and mental anguish, and she has been incapacitated.” Rivers, whose address is not listed in court papers, is suing McDonald’s Corporation, the Atlantic Avenue restaurant and Simmons Foods Corp., Inc. for an undisclosed sum. McDonalds spokespeople did not return a request for comment by press time. Can I have an antibiotic with that? A Brooklyn limousine driver claims a sandwich she bought at a Manhattan Starbuck’s sent her to the hospital, and is taking the Seattle-based baristas to task with a Venti-sized negligence suit. Halina Marzec, of Greenpoint, claims in a lawsuit dated Feb. 11 that she was at the Starbuck’s, 395 Third Ave., on the morning of June 21, 2005 when she “purchased a turkey sandwich, for which plaintiff paid … the sum of approximately five dollars.” But that $5 sandwich did more than give Marzec an early lunch — it also gave her food poisoning, the suit alleges. “[Marzec] ingested more than half of the refrigerated turkey sandwich … and within a couple of hours became seriously ill. [She] soon became nauseous, and began to vomit violently. Due to this food poisoning, [she] was forced to seek emergency room services at the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center.” The medical bills came to $2,213.94, the suit says. And Marzec was unable to work in her “regular occupation as a limousine driver for several days,” wages she says totaled at least $1,000. Marzec also says she suffered mental and emotional distress from the incident. She’s suing for $500,000 for that distress, as well as punitive damages and other costs. Starbuscks spokespeople did not return a request for comment by press time. ‘Public nuisance’ The city thinks that a Nostrand Avenue location isn’t a good place to party, and is trying to close it down. In a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, the city alleges that at 566 Nostrand Ave., “numerous acts of violence occurred at the subject premises and in front of the subject premises on three dates, leading to five injured individuals and one arrest.” But that wasn’t enough to warrant trying to close the place: in addition, cops who came to the address found three unlicensed (and therefore illegally operating) security guards, the suit alleges. The location is therefore a public nuisance, the city says. The World Wide Web appears to indicate that the 566 Nostrand Ave. is known as Seabreeze Manor: on MySpace.com, at least three musicians on Myspace.com have used that name in referring fans to the venue for their shows. The city wants the location closed and locked for a year and any assets constituting the “public nuisance” confiscated and sold. It also wants to levy a $1,000 fine from the 566 Nostrand Avenue Trust, which is named as a defendant in the suit. A contact person for the 566 Nostrand Avenue Trust could not be found by press time.
