ALBANY - The limousine company at the center of the crash that killed 20 people in rural New York claims it had remedied safety issues flagged by state inspectors before the time of the deadly incident Saturday.
Lee Kindlon, an attorney for Prestige Limousine of Saratoga County, said Tuesday that the company had fixed the brakes on the 2001 Ford Excursion stretch limo in June. He also claimed the company had since corrected other issues flagged by inspectors in September — a charge the state strongly disputes.
The vehicle ran through an intersection in the town of Schoharie, 35 miles west of Albany, on Saturday, crashing into an unoccupied vehicle and killing the driver, two bystanders and 17 passengers who were on their way to a birthday gathering at a brewery in Cooperstown.
"We're trying to gather all the documentation up so we can show that any problems with the vehicle had been remedied," Kindlon said in an interview with the USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.
State says claim is false
Kindlon's claim was rejected by the state Department of Transportation, which said the assertion that the vehicle was cleared for the road was "categorically false."
State inspectors affixed a sticker taking the vehicle out of service after a Sept. 4 inspection, according to the DOT.
"The vehicle was subject to inspections and the owner was warned not to operate the vehicle," DOT spokesman Joseph Morrissey said in a statement. "The vehicle was placed out of service."
The finger-pointing between the state and the limousine company could have major implications for figuring out liability in the horrific crash, which was the deadliest transportation incident in the U.S. since 2009.
State officials, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, point to inspection records showing the car had been flagged for numerous safety issues as recently as Sept. 4 and should have been off the road.
The limousine company, meanwhile, has raised the issue of the safety of the intersection of Routes 30 and 30A, which residents have long raised as problematic, pointing to Route 30 South's steep decline in grade as it meets Route 30A.
Criminal investigation ongoing
New York State Police said Monday that they were conducting a criminal investigation of the incident, while the state issued a cease and desist order and impounded the company's remaining vehicles while the investigation is ongoing.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the cause of the crash.
The Ford Excursion that crashed failed a state inspection on Sept. 4 and the company was ordered to take it off the road immediately until two problems were corrected, according to records maintained online by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
One problem was a defect in an emergency exit, while the other was a violation of a broad regulation covering vehicle repair and maintenance. Four lesser violations were found, one of which had to do with a brake malfunction indicator.
The same stretch limo was inspected on March 21 and ruled out of service because of three serious violations, two of which had to do with defective brakes. The third was, like in September, a defective emergency exit. That March inspection found four other less-serious violations, and two of them had to do with brake problems as well.
Two other Prestige limos were inspected in September, and both of them received out-of-service orders. One had bad brakes and a leaky tire; the other had a tire that was nearly bald.
One of those vehicles also had been checked in March with no violations noted.
Limo issues
In sum, four of five Prestige limos inspected this year, or 80 percent, were ordered out of service for serious problems. The national average is 21 percent, according to the FMCSA web site.
Vehicles given out-of-service orders by inspectors must be fixed on the spot or towed to a garage for repairs, FMCSA spokesman Dwayne DeBruyne said. They are not supposed to return to service until serious defects are corrected.
Because Prestige operated only within New York, the state had sole responsibility for inspecting its vehicles and ensuring that repairs are made. The state submits inspection summaries to FMCSA.
While commercial-vehicle drivers are subject to snap inspections as well to ensure their licenses and logs are in order, the FMCSA records do not show any inspections of Prestige’s drivers.
Following the September inspection, the state DOT claims a large sticker was placed on the Ford Excursion that said in part: "This motor vehicle has been declared UNSERVICEABLE" while warning that it was "NOT to be operated until repaired."
Owner in Pakistan
Prestige is owned by Shahed Hussain, who is currently in his native Pakistan.
The company's day-to-day operations are handled by one of his two sons, Kindlon said.
Kindlon said the son has spoken with investigators and the company was working to answer questions posed by the DOT and NTSB earlier Tuesday morning.
Shahed Hussain, meanwhile, has pledged to cooperate with the investigation and return to the U.S. if necessary, Kindlon said.
"I get New York has some interest in shifting the focus to Prestige and its driver and its owners, but that's why I'll say it until I'm blue in the face: This is a big, complex investigation," Kindlon said. "Nobody has come to any conclusions and we look forward to the investigation taking place."
Ted Novick, a White Plains attorney who represented a victim in a 2010 limousine wreck on I-95 near Greenwich, Connecticut, said a civil jury could allocate liability to a number of different parties, including the company, the state or the estate of the driver, or split it between them.
"If the intersection is known to be dangerous, I would make an argument that a reasonable and prudent limo company would hire reasonable and prudent drivers who know how to negotiate dangerous intersections," Novick said. "There's no guarantee that every intersection is going to be safe."
The family of the limo driver, Scott Lisinicchia, issued a statement Tuesday claiming he was provided with an unsafe vehicle to drive.
George Longworth, an attorney for the family, said the family was "devastated by the horrific tragedy."
"The family believes that unbeknownst to him he was provided with a vehicle that was neither roadworthy nor safe for any of its occupants," Longworth said.
JCampbell1@Gannett.com
Jon Campbell is a correspondent with USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.
Includes reporting by Rochester Democrat and Chronicle staff writer Steve Orr and The Journal News staff writer Jonathan Bandler.
