Someone stealing his car would seem bad enough.
But Paul Brink’s troubles with his 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt were just starting.
Brink was sued over what happened next, and nearly five years after someone stole his car from the Catholic Health headquarters parking lot downtown, the case is still winding through the court system.
In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day in 2019, a then-27-year-old homeless man, who admitted being on meth, stole the car while the then-59-year-old Brink was working the overnight shift as a security guard in the building.
The next day, the car thief was being pursued by police when he swerved into an Amherst patrol vehicle driven by Patrolman Joseph R. Oishei Jr., injuring the police officer’s thumb.
Afterward, the officer sued the car thief. And he also sued Brink, a Buffalo resident.
The police officer’s lawsuit invokes what’s called the “key in the ignition statute,” which says a vehicle owner may be found liable for injuries from a crash involving a stolen vehicle that was an attractive target for theft. In short, Brink allegedly made his car too easy to steal by leaving his doors unlocked and his spare key easy to spot inside the car, according to the police officer’s lawsuit.
“The government seems to approach its discovery obligations by finding ways not to disclose evidence and excuses for not disclosing it sooner or at all,” U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo said in a…
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