Judge Dismisses Class-Action Lawsuit By People Claiming They Were Affected By GWB Lane Closures, Report Says

A judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by six people who claimed they were affected by the George Washington Bridge lane closures in 2013.

In an opinion published Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares wrote the that plaintiffs’ suit did not have “any substantive facts concerning each defendant’s role” in the lane closures from Sept. 9 through Sept. 13, The Associated Press reported.

Linares said that the lawsuit, filed in January, lacks “any meaningful facts which establish each defendant’s liability for the misconduct alleged,” the report said.

The sextet, which is was suing for an undisclosed amount, includes a then-panicked Fort Lee woman who was so agonized by snarled traffic that her husband — and co-litigant — had to pull their car over to allow the 50-year-old woman to vomit, according to stories in the Post and Daily News.

Joy and Eli Galicki, owners of a Midtown Manhattan jewelry supply business, told the Daily News that the surprise lane closures added an hour and 10 minutes to their typically 20 minute commute.

The six plaintiffs are Zachary, Joy and Eli Galicki and Elizabeth Psaltos of Fort Lee; Robert Arnold of Leonia; and Kim Joscelyn of Edgewater, the Post reported.

“This was just a reprehensible, outrageous situation caused by political motivation,” said filing attorney Rosemarie Arnold.

The lawsuit named several defendants, including the State of New Jersey, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, former Port Authority officials David Wildstein and Bill Baroni; and former Christie staffers Bridget Anne Kelly, MIchael Drewniak, and Bill Stepien.

Wildstein has pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges related to the lane closures and Baroni and Kelly have been indicted on allegations they used the bridge as a political weapon against Fort Lee Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie’s bid for re-election and then covered it up, the AP reported.