Hurricane Sandy Lawsuit Greenlighted for Trial by Queens County Judge

QUEENS, N.Y., April 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Queens County Supreme Court Justice Bernice Siegal denied the defendant's summary judgment motion and motion for trial severances in Heeran v. Long Island Power Authority & National Grid. 

The judge held that the defendants must face a jury trial on the issue of liability and damages.  It is alleged by the law firms Sullivan & Galleshaw, LLP and Godosky & Gentile, PC, co-counsel on the lawsuit, that The Long Island Power Authority and National Grid were thoroughly negligent in their lack of preparation for the devastating Hurricane Sandy that ravaged New York City in October 2012 by abandoning their electrical equipment while keeping it fully energized as the Rockaway Peninsula was underwater and battered for hours by the fierce storm. 

By daybreak, over 150 homes and businesses were burned completely to the ground resulting in property damages exceeding $100 million- an estimate offered by the defendant's themselves in a prior court filing.  Additionally, the court ruled in a separate decision that the case would proceed as one trial.  

In rejecting the defendant's attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, the court stated that, "The defendants who provided electricity to areas known to be vulnerable to storm surges, could have, and should have, promulgated written protocols for storm de-energization."  She further ruled that, "the plaintiff's eviscerated " the defense reliance on a "relic" law left over from 1886 and had no application in the current lawsuit.

Plaintiffs' attorney Keith Sullivan of Sullivan & Galleshaw, LLP, stated, "If LIPA and National Grid acted responsibly in preparing for the storm, my clients would not have suffered the heartache of losing their homes, businesses, all of their life possessions and the communities would not have looked like war-zones.  The defendants showed a total disregard for our clients' health and safety.  Industry protocol and common sense called for shutting down the electric system.  Sadly, LIPA and National Grid chose to keep the dangerous electric flowing into the very small narrow communities that are completely surrounded by water without any monitoring of the lethal electricity as the surging tides and violent wind barreled into the community."

In ruling against the defendants request to sever the trial into three separate trials according to each fire location, the court held "…there are common questions of law and facts as evidenced by Defendants' own motions… further, the interests of judicial economy and consistency of verdicts will be served by having a single trial."

Sullivan added, "Unquestionably, the court reached the right decisions on both fronts. Sadly, while our clients still struggle, the corporate defendants with unlimited financial resources, chose to spend six years pushing meritless defenses."

CONTACT: Keith Sullivan, 718-755-9432, 718-843-0300

SOURCE Sullivan & Galleshaw, LLP

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