Sex at the SEC, Washington learns from the Mafia, a couple of big Dukakis fans, and other matters. ONLY IN AMERICA (Cont'd)
By DANIEL SELIGMAN REPORTER ASSOCIATE Patty de Llosa

(FORTUNE Magazine) – A jury ordered the New York City Transit Authority to pay $13 million in damages to a homeless man and the family of his late brother after the men came in contact with electrified city subway tracks . . . An attorney for the plaintiff, James Clarke, said that in March 1986, Mr. Clarke slipped on a pile of rubbish in the station and fell onto the live third rail. His brother, Earl Clarke, tried to help him . . . Both men were severely burned and . . . Earl Clarke died . . .

The men, who were both admitted alcoholics and drug abusers with criminal records, were living in the Broadway-Lafayette subway station . . . where the midday incident occurred. James Clarke admitted to drinking wine for breakfast that day . . . The jury found that once the Transit Authority allowed the homeless to live in its subway stations, it had a duty to keep the premises . . . safe for them. -- From a news report in the Wall Street Journal.