A 90-year-old customer at Mercedes-Benz of Massapequa ended up hospitalized for more than a month after a car struck him inside the dealership's own service area in Amityville, and he's now suing both the dealership and the driver behind the wheel. Myron Wecker, his wife and a dealership employee were all injured in the collision, which happened when another driver's vehicle rolled into the back of Wecker's car.
According to Newsday, the driver, identified as Philip Rao, forgot to put his car in park and accidentally accelerated, striking Wecker's vehicle from behind while both cars were inside the service area. Wecker suffered numerous injuries in the crash, including a broken collarbone, and spent more than a month moving between a hospital and two rehabilitation facilities before he was well enough to go home.
The crash also hurt Wecker's wife and a dealership employee, though the extent of their injuries has not been detailed. Wecker filed a negligence lawsuit in Nassau County Supreme Court on Sept. 9, accusing both Rao and the dealership of negligence, carelessness and recklessness.
Lawsuit Says Customer Was Directed Into Danger
Central to Wecker's case is the claim that dealership staff put him in harm's way to begin with. The lawsuit argues the dealership is partially liable for the accident because Rao was allowed to drive into the service garage when it was unsafe, and that an employee had directed Wecker into that same unsafe area, per the report.
Wecker's legal team is seeking damages above the $15,000 cap that Nassau County District Court places on civil claims, a threshold that signals the scale of the injuries and expenses at stake. As Automotive News noted in its coverage of the case, three people, including an employee, were hurt in the incident inside the service area.
Dealership Denies Fault, Points Finger at Driver
Mercedes-Benz of Massapequa isn't accepting the blame. The dealership denied liability in its Sept. 30 answer to Wecker's complaint, and it also filed a cross-claim arguing that if the plaintiffs win a judgment, Rao should be the one held responsible rather than the business itself, the same account notes.
That leaves the case pointing in two directions at once: Wecker's suit says the dealership's own staff set up a dangerous situation, while the dealership says any fault belongs to the driver who hit him. Whether a judge or jury will ultimately sort out that disagreement remains to be seen, as the case continues to work its way through Nassau County Supreme Court.
