Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is considered one of the most powerful men in New York State, but even he doesn't have power over the conditions of the streets he bikes on. Capital New York's Azi Paybarah reports, "Half of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's face is bruised and purple, and there are stitches over his left eyebrow and a scab across his nose and the back of one of his hands. Silver sustained the injuries while riding a bicycle when he hit a pothole and fell, according to a spokesman for the lower Manhattan Democrat." more ›

Councilwoman Letitia "Tish" James (D-Fort Greene) is suing a day laborer for causing "serious, severe and permanent [injuries] to her limbs and body" after she walked into a four-inch trailer hitch protruding from the back of his parked car. According to court documents cited in the Brooklyn Paper, James says she suffered "great physical and mental pain" when she brushed against the hitch and cut her leg in Fort Greene last July. more ›

A 2004 Little League game-gone-wrong has earned a Staten Island family a $125,000 settlement, according to the Staten Island Advance. The lawsuit, filed by mother Jean Gonzalez, alleged that the New Springville Little League and its parent company, Little League Baseball Incorporated, were negligent in instructing her son Martin Gonzalez about proper sliding techniques before a May 2004 game, when her son was instructed by his coach to slide into second base. The slide ended in ligament and meniscus tearing (that's a knee injury in doctor-speak) for Martin, who was 12 at the time and has had two surgeries to repair the damage in the five years since. Some lawyers on the sidelines have suggested this was a weak case, given that anyone who plays sports usually assumes there's always some possibility of getting hurt, but as the Gonzalez's lawyer Alan Glassman points out, "Apparently, the Little League International and the local Little League must have felt that I had some justification for the commencement of the action." Now, if only Glassman can explain why the lawsuit was filed some three years after the injury, the statute of limitations equivalent of the bottom of the ninth. more ›