Sad To Say That Tort Reform Would Deny Us All This Fun

The Daily News reports that the homeless man who successfully sued a New Jersey town is now setting his sights on Amtrak:

A scruffy homeless man who cleaned up by filing discrimination lawsuits in New Jersey is now a regular on this side of the Hudson River — and trouble is brewing at Penn Station.

Fifteen years ago, Richard Kreimer got national attention when he won $230,000 from the Morristown, N.J., library and local cops who wrongly booted him from the library because of his horrible hygiene.

But all that money is now gone, and Kreimer, 56, spends several nights a week alongside other homeless men and women in a waiting area for Amtrak and NJTransit ticket holders.

Kreimer says he always has a ticket — but charges that hasn’t stopped Amtrak officials and cops from trying to eject him from the waiting area. “If they keep pushing me, I’ll probably speak to a lawyer about it,” he told the Daily News early yesterday inside Penn Station. “If push comes to shove, I’ll probably file a lawsuit against them, and I’ll include the other homeless, too.”

Kreimer’s allegations against Amtrak were echoed by other homeless who say they — and people who appear to be vagrants — are targeted during purges of the waiting area.

Kreimer calls it “homeless profiling” and clear discrimination — a charge Amtrak denied.

“Nobody discriminates or singles out the homeless,” said station master Norma Diggs.

Diggs said travelers can use the waiting room for up to two hours, and can stay longer only if the next train to their destination isn’t scheduled to depart during the two-hour window. Anyone in the waiting area beyond their allotted time is asked to leave, she said.

But two Amtrak workers, who asked not to be identified, charged that a station master ordered a clerk in the waiting area to “throw the bums out” about a week ago, which Diggs disputed.

Questions include but are not limited to:

• How do you blow a quarter of a million dollars when you’re homeless?
• What lawyer takes this case and do they take their customary third of the settlement?
• Can an Amtrak employee on the inside collude with the man to get some of the earnings kicked back
• If so, how can others contact the man to get on board?

Just asking . . .