Sorry, I didn’t make it clear in th previous post.
Con Ed has neglected to maintain the electrical and mechanical vaults below the streets of New York City.
Some of the electrical vaults have ground faults that cause the metal of the manhole covers to be randomly electified, causing people and animals that walk over them to be randomly injured.
A woman and her dog wereelecuted last Feburary, while out for a walk.
The steam vent covers aren’t supposed to get HOT, just warm. They’ve known about that danger for a while too.
The woman was on a public street. Streets are dangerous enough without adding the risk of random brandings.
From This site that gives the details of that lawsuit:
I’m not defending McDonald’s by any means if they were too stupid to dial back the heat of their coffee, but the lady made a judgement error by trying to hold the coffee cup (made from flimsy foam) between her knees and removing the top. She probably could have placed the cup on the dash or console (I can’t say for sure since I don’t know what kind of car was involved). She could have even had her son hold the cup while she got the creamer packet open or whatever she was trying to do.
OK. I can get on board for that being somewhat hilarious, but I am not sure I buy the “stupid” part. Is it a reasonable expectation for one to have that a manhole cover is as hot as a branding iron? Is that within the design specifications? Should one, for example, have the reasonable expectation to fall and not be branded? Help me out here.
… that resulted in someone being burned badly enough to get permanent scars and has yet to be fully fixed…
Nah, of course not, she should be happy with their offer to pay her medical bills for treating the burn and reducing the scar, since that’s certainly what any decent company would — oh, wait. Never mind.
This is pure speculation on my part, as I am not familiar with the complaint, New York’s laws, or pretty much anything relevant to this discussion. However, two things: it is likely that New York’s statute of limitation on personal injury is a year, so the lawsuit needed to be filed within that year.
It is therefore not unusual to find someone filing suit within the statute of limitation (after all, that’s what you’re supposed to do), but remember that filing suit is often the last step in your attempts to resolve a dispute. So I wouldn’t be too hasty in condemning the plaintiff for her timing. She’s permitted to bring suit within the limitation period, which is (apparently) what she did.
A bit more: the article is, as most articles about pending lawsuits are, quite light on facts. There really isn’t enough there to make any educated or non-speculative judgments about what the facts are. I will say this, however: if the article is accurate, and a woman skateboarding down a street trips and falls on a manhole cover that, at midnight, is hot enough to brand her skin, she ought to be able to bring her case before a jury and be compensated for her injuries. But I’ve also been a lawyer* long enough to know that things are rarely as they seem.
*I’m probably one of the slimy ones; after all, I’ve filed lawsuits on behalf of clients within the limitation period. I’ve also encouraged clients to stand up for their rights. Yes, indeedy, slime.
This seems very much a non sequitur Where did “Maholia” come from? And what is it? The closest I could find in my dictionary was mahonia, which is some sort of shrub. Mr Blue Sky, I’m confused enough of the time, why must you play with my brain? he never puts it back right. Maybe I should sue… kidding…
Ooookkk. That’s not a word I could find, in the dictionary or this thread or the original link. My brain still hurts, I think you must have dropped it or stepped on it.
What business is that of yours, and what does it have to do with the topic of this thread? Do you judge everyone based on the hours they keep?
Ah, so this is not about whether she deserves to be compensated for Con-Ed’s pooor maintenance. It’s actually a rather incoherent pre-emptive rant about the millions that you believe she might get sometime in the future. Got it.
Well, in case you have no idea about these things, it’s worth pointing out that the purpose of lawsuits like this is not merely to get money to compensate the victim. It’s also to punish companies that demonstrate negligence leading to the injury of innocent persons.
If New York City or New York State intends punishing Con-Ed in some way for its injury-causing (lack of) safety procedures, then that’s good. But so often in these cases the state is unwilling to pursue any criminal or administrative charges against these companies, so the only way to get them to straighten up is to sue their asses.
If this ever goes to trial, Con Ed’s lawyers will certainly questioning her actions. A lot of juries like to “stick it” to the big corporations. This encourages frivilous lawsuits. If you think a few million will “punish” Con Ed, think again. They’ll raise their rates to compensate and everybody pays. A few dollars in kickbacks to the right political official can go a long way.
I find it bizarre that anybody would think it’s reasonable to have occasional circles of metal on the ground hot enough to brand flesh and think this is not something that should be taken care of and subject to lawsuits if it is not.
Where did “Maholia” come from? And what is it? The closest I could find in my dictionary was mahonia, which is some sort of shrub.