A homeless man who's made hundreds of thousands of dollars through various civil rights lawsuits is back in "business," having filed yet another suit against Amtrak because he claims police forcibly removed him from the train station. After several years out of the litigation game, living off of at least $400,000 in payouts from settlements, 61-year-old Richard Kreimer is officially back, baby. (And yes, his name is actually Kreimer.) The Post recently caught up with him in Penn Station, where he spends most of his time smelling bad and daring cops to eject him so he can file another lawsuit. Hey, it's a living.
Kreimer readily admits that litigation is his "profession," and told the Times five years ago, "All Americans have dollar signs in their eyes. I'm an honest person and I sue to get monetary claims. But also for social justice." (It's a great read.) Kreimer's career was launched two decades ago when he won $230,000 in a settlement after being kicked out of a Morristown, NJ, library for his body odor. Since then, whenever he gets low on funds, he stops bathing and starts loitering, targeting small municipalities who would rather settle than pay for years of litigation. Kreimer also targets the bigger fish, hiring attorneys to go after CVS, a rich New Jersey doctor, and, up next, NJ Transit.
"I used to try to treat him with respect," said one municipal official who, due to fear of legal retaliation from Kreimer, would speak only anonymously. "But the only way to deal with people like him is to ignore them. He's the kind of person who will turn nice suburban liberals into conservatives real quickly." For his interview with the Post last week, Kreimer arrived in Penn Station wearing "oversized black shades, pressed plaid shirt, cellphone and an ATM card. He took a shower, combed his hair and wore clean clothes, all the things he refuses to do in other public places."
He tells the tabloid he's no millionaire, and denies "the homeless underground rumor that I carry my money around with me in a duffel bag... The lawyers have my money." Kreimer is unabashed about his line of work, and says his only regret is not suing a McDonald's that refused to serve him in 1985, calling it "the biggest legal regret of my career." In a separate but not unrelated legal action, last month a United States District Court judge held the city in contempt of court for failing to comply with orders to stop enforcing the loitering laws.
