Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Partners Donald Derrico and Thomas Fanizzi obtained a complete defense verdict on behalf of a utility company following a Westchester County jury trial arising from an alleged e-bike accident involving an allegedly unsecured grounding wire.
The plaintiff claimed that a grounding wire had been left unsecured from a utility pole for an extended period of time, causing him to become entangled and crash his e-bike. To establish notice, the plaintiff relied on nearly nine years of inspection and maintenance records and argued that the condition should have been identified and remedied before the incident. The plaintiff commenced trial with a settlement demand of $4.5 million.
The defense secured several key evidentiary rulings, including the exclusion of the plaintiff’s Google Street View evidence, preservation of the defense’s ability to use prior statements contained in medical records, admission of evidence concerning the plaintiff’s sidewalk operation of an e-bike, and the defeat of challenges to the defense’s liability expert.
Armed with those victories, the defense focused the jury on inconsistencies in the plaintiff’s account and evidence demonstrating that the accident did not occur as alleged. In particular, records from the plaintiff’s initial emergency room treatment contained statements and information that contradicted critical aspects of his trial narrative. Through cross-examination, expert testimony, and a detailed review of the documentary evidence, the defense successfully undermined the plaintiff’s version of events and neutralized the plaintiff’s extensive notice evidence.
The matter also presented issues involving the rapidly evolving legal framework governing e-bikes in New York. Drawing on its understanding of emerging statutes, regulations, and litigation trends in this developing area of law, the GRSM team successfully incorporated those issues into its overall trial strategy, positioning the case around credibility, notice, causation, and whether the alleged accident occurred in the manner that the plaintiff claimed.
After approximately 25 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict, finding that the defendant was not negligent.
As e-bike-related claims continue to increase across New York, GRSM remains well-positioned to address the legal and regulatory issues shaping the defense of these cases, from pretrial motion practice through verdict, helping clients navigate established liability principles and the unique challenges presented by emerging transportation litigation.