New York to pay $9M settlement for hiker struck by rocks

ALBANY, N.Y. – Lawyers for a woman left paralyzed after being struck by falling rocks at a state park say New York officials have agreed to pay $9 million to settle the woman’s lawsuit.

Attorney George Szary tells the Albany Times Union the accord was reached Monday as a trial was about to start. The bulk will go to Nancy Ladd-Butz, who was struck while hiking at John Boyd Thacher State Park near Albany in 2017. She’s paralyzed from the chest down.

The Times Union reported last August that top state parks officials were aware of concerns about the stability of the cliff above the popular Indian Ladder Trail before Ladd-Butz was struck there. State workers had removed some loose rocks from parts of the cliff a month before the accident.