Kimon Stathakos, a "project manager" from Stonybrook, pays big money every month for an unlimited LIRR pass that takes him from his home on Long Island to Penn Station in the big city. The monthly pass costs him $334 (!) and should entitle him, as his lawyer puts it, to ride the LIRR as much as he wants during every day of a month. Sounds like a dream come true! But for four days from late December to early February, inclement weather shut down Stathakos's leg of the LIRR, and now he's suing the MTA to get a refund.
“Think of your cable company," Stathakos tells CBS 2. "If service goes out for a couple hours you’re entitled to call them up and say, look, I’ve lost service for a couple of hours, can you please credit me and they usually do. Hopefully they have a policy change and they understand that people should be treated as customers." Keep dreaming, Stathakos, and be glad it's "only" $334 a month (so far). Newsday reports (paywall) that he asked the LIRR to reimburse him on a prorated basis for days train service was affected, but was denied. So he's filing a class action lawsuit.
The LIRR says it's not responsible because it can't control the weather. And LIRR Commuter Council Vice Chairman Gerry Bringmann tells Newsday the only time he remembers getting a prorated refund was in 1994, after a union strike shut down the LIRR for two days. "We can understand his frustration," Bringmann adds. "But it's probably more trouble than it's worth." Yet Stathakos's litigation might not be in vain: CBS 2 reports that another commuter sued the LIRR because of its ticket-refund policy and the case was settled out of court in the plaintiff's favor.
