In Roman v. City of New York (App. Div. 2nd Dept. Feb. 25, 2015), the court affirmed summary judgment in plaintiff’s favor.
In this personal injury case,
plaintiff allegedly was injured while he was walking his dog on a sidewalk in Brooklyn. At his deposition, the plaintiff testified that, after stepping in a puddle, the dog suddenly jumped up, yelped, and collapsed. The plaintiff then put his hands in the puddle to see if the dog had stepped on broken glass, and he sustained an electric shock.
In affirming judgment in plaintiff’s favor, the court held that “plaintiff established his prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of liability against [Con Edison] by demonstrating that, prior to the incident, [Con Edison] had notice of a dangerous electrical condition and the foreseeable consequence of stray voltage in the vicinity of the plaintiff’s accident, but failed to promptly investigate the condition.”