Involuntary ManholeTattoo Leads to Lawsuit

Remember the story about the woman who got branded by a hot manhole cover last summer? Well, Liz Wallenberg is back in the news as she is going ahead with suing Con Ed. Wallenberg had fallen off her skateboard at 2nd Avenue and 13th Street last August, and then realized her skin was sizzling as her back was branded with the manhole's design and lettering. The Post reports she claims "the power company's 'negligence, carelessness [and] recklessness' is to blame for the defective cover, which seared into her skin and scarred her for life." Nice pun, Post. Since it's just under a year since the incident, Gothamist wonders if tattoo has faded considerably - we thought she'd have a suit filed two minutes after seeing what it looked like!

NY magazine on manholes as an urban menace.

Photograph of Wallenberg's back in 2004 by the NY Post

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By Jen Chung in News on July 22, 2005 12:11 PM

Comments [rss]

wfpman

I'll agree it kinda looks interesting for a "tatoo" but hey sue away!

Rocknrope

Looks cool in a tribal, From-Dusk-Till-Dawn-George-Clooney-tat sort of way...

Ron Mexico

In the MSNBC.com story it says she's now a factory worker in Portland, OR- kind of interesting how one goes from working at Paper to holding it down in a sweatshop in Oregon.

alex

Many people in this city would call that 'art' or pay big bucks to have it tatooed on their backs.

haha

i understand why she's upset, but on the bright side, it's one of the most interesting scars i've ever seen.

Yeah - when I saw it I though...oh, thats kind of Hot!

*ducks*