East Village is Still Electrified

After two dogs were shocked by a store's cellar doors on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place on Tuesday night, Con Ed is being questioned again. The incident, not too far from where East Village resident Jodie Lane was fatally electrocuted, raises questions about Con Ed's crackdown on fixing "hot spots" last month. The Utility Workers Union is saying the crackdown was a "con job," as accusations will stary to fly once again that shoddy workmanship contributed to the electrified areas. City Hall promises to keep press on Con Ed, while Assemblyman Richard Brodsky raises a good point, "The real issue is whether these are freak accidents or the inevitable result of a bad system of maintenance and repair."

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By Jen Chung in News on March 11, 2004 10:40 AM

Comments [rss]

Evangeline Custis

This is all very strange. I live in Massachusetts and suddenly, in the last 2 months or so, we're hearing on the news about several dogs being electricuted while walking on Boston sidewalks. Now I read about NYC having the same problems, only worse...you lost a human life. Why is this suddenly happening in both cities? This was unheard of before recently. Why just now and never before?

infant

hell yeah, liability accrues, in the form of... my fist... punching... con edison in the face and whatnot!!!

Linus

Hmmm, that's a thought. Anyone got any puppies? I have a spare power strip. Jake, get your camera ready...

dave

too bad they didn't have pictures of the poor doggies getting electrocuted so you could post them.

John

"Fatally electrocuted" is redundant. Electrocuted means executed by electricity. If you live, you were merely shocked, not electrocuted.

But don't take the quibble to mean I have anything but love for Gothamist. You guys rock.

Linus

That won't be an easy lawsuit to win.

The fact of a death or injury does not mean that liability automatically accrues; in order to maintain a proper claim, the party that did the alleged wrong must have notice of the dangerous condition, and enough time to remedy it. (I am not a lawyer, BTW, though I work with lawyers. This is not legal advice and has no particular meaning outside of it being my lightly-informed opinion.)

If Con Ed knew about the electrical "spill," then they will be liable; if not, the case will be hard to win. Utilities are usually quite aggressive in defending suits. This is why there is so much action in reporting potholes, for example. If a pothole is not reported, then the City is not responsible for damages that arise from accidents that may take place because of the pothole, and so forth.

infant

did that woman's family ever sue the shit out of the city or what?

jamie

i live all the way out in nowhere Brooklyn and i don't know if our grates and cellar doors are electrified, but my dog always goes out of his way to avoid walking on them so perhaps he can sense the inherent danger.

Linus

Shoddy workmanship by public contractors in the East Village???? Wow, who knew.

Would they be related to the guys who take 2.5 years to repair each escalator in the subways, by any chance?