Town of Oyster Bay OKs payment to settle three lawsuits

Oyster Bay town board has approved paying $119,351 to settle three negligence lawsuits stemming from car accidents involving vehicles driven by town employees.

The largest payment was $72,500 to settle claims arising over a 2009 accident in which a truck driven by town employee Robert Limoncelli rear-ended Pei-Xin Yu’s vehicle on Old Bethpage Road near the intersection with Haypath Road.

In 2012, a state judge in Nassau County granted a partial summary judgment in favor of Yu on the issue of liability. The decision said the driver traveling behind another driver has a duty to maintain a safe distance behind the front vehicle. The settlement covers Yu’s personal injury claims that the crash injured her right knee and shoulder.

“We did accept the fault,” Oyster Bay spokeswoman Marta Kane said.

The town also approved a $24,000 payment to Sonia Kamal and her attorney to settle a personal injury claim that alleged she suffered a spinal injury in a collision with a town vehicle in Hicksville in 2009. The third payment approved was $22,851 to settle a claim by Nationwide Insurance Company of America for insured property damage for an accident in 2011 in which the company alleged a vehicle driven by a town employee rear-ended Bruce Yearwood.

Kane said that none of the town employees involved in the accidents was disciplined.