The mother of three who was severely injured when a tree in Central Park fell on her last month plans to sue the city for $200 million, her attorneys said Wednesday.
Anne Monoky Goldman, who sustained a concussion and several spine and neck fractures when she was pinned by the tree on West Drive, near 62nd Street, on Aug. 15, is expected to be bedridden for the next three to six months, her lawyers said. She can’t move her neck or back and is unable to breast-feed her youngest son, James.
“She would talk about nothing else but the sadness she had to not be able to breast-feed her baby and bond with her baby,” said attorney Tom Kline.
James, who is 2 months old, was in Goldman’s arms when the tree fell. The two other boys, William, 4, and Grant, 2, were in a stroller at the time, police said.
Grant sustained a concussion and bleeding in his brain, Goldman’s lawyers said. The other two children were not seriously injured, but the lawyers said William has “regressed” since the accident, and they described Grant as “guarded.”
Goldman, of Manhattan, works for Tory Burch as a fashion editor and social media director.
“She loved her job. She loved her family. She feels it’s all been taken away from her,” Kline said. “She will never be 100 percent again.”
The lawyers filed five notices of claim, one for Goldman, her husband and the three children. They allege that the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, Central Park Conservancy and others failed to properly maintain and care for the tree.
