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| Ex-Inmate: Second-Hand Smoke Gave Cancer |
| By AP |
| Published: 04/25/2005 |
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Raymond "Spanish Raymond" Marquez, the New York City's most famous former numbers banker, can go ahead with a $15 million lawsuit in which he claims he got bladder cancer from inhaling second-hand smoke in a city jail. Marquez, 75, alleges that the city and the Department of Correction were negligent and violated a 1990 state law by allowing indoor smoking while he was at Rikers Island in 1998. State Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman, in a ruling made public Thursday, said the issue of whether the defendants were negligent and whether that alleged negligence caused Marquez' ailments should be decided at a trial. He rejected the city's request to dismiss the lawsuit on the ground that it had no special duty of care relationship with Marquez. He cited cases that held that the authorities owe a duty of care and adequate medical treatment to people in their custody since those people cannot protect and defend themselves in the same way free people can. Marquez, who ran a multimillion-dollar numbers racket for 50 years, was jailed at Rikers Island before and during a trial on gambling charges of which he was acquitted in 2001, said his son and lawyer, David Marquez. The elder Marquez was diagnosed in September 2000 with bladder cancer and has undergone three surgeries, and while the cancer is in remission he still suffers from diabetes and heart problems, his son said. He smoked from age 15 to 35 and hasn't smoked since, the son said. The judge ordered the city to produce by May 11 all records of cigarette sales in jails where Marquez was held and records of complaints about air quality due to second-hand smoke from most of 1998 through Jan. 30, 2001. The judge warned that if the city failed to produce the records it would not be allowed at trial to deny that large quantities of cigarettes were sold to inmates by the jails' commissaries during this period. The judge said there didn't appear to be any disagreement between the parties that smoking was prevalent in various jail areas and that scientific evidence indicates second-hand cigarette smoke can pose health hazards. City lawyer Jennifer Plotkin said she was disappointed with the judge's ruling. "However, we look forward to presenting our case in court," she said, "and we're confident that we'll prevail when the facts are presented. The city's jails have been smoke free since March 2003, she said. |
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