Our client was a passenger in her daughter’s car which was traveling on a street in the Bronx, when suddenly, the undercarriage of the car violently struck a raised manhole cover.
We commenced an action against the City of New York and the contractor who the City retained to perform work on the street. During the course of litigation, we discovered that the City and its contractor were grinding, milling, and resurfacing the roadway where the accident took place. As part of that work, the City’s contractor was responsible for milling and grinding the roadway and the City would then be responsible for resurfacing the roadway. The City began resurfacing the roadway where the accident took place, but had yet to resurface the portion of the roadway where the vehicle struck the raised manhole cover. Despite the fact that the roadway was still being repaired, it was open to traffic and there were no “caution” or “warning” signs posted.
Blitz Law Group retained an expert engineer and discovered that the City’s contractor failed to adequately install and construct a temporary slope around the raised manhole cover, thereby exposing a dangerous condition on the roadway and causing the accident.
As a result, our client suffered multiple permanent injuries to her cervical and lumbar spine, which required her to undergo surgery and have a spinal stimulator permanently implanted in her body.