NYC architect killed by falling debris in Midtown should have known sidewalks are dangerous: city attorneys

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-architect-debris-lawsuit-20201015-
wq2qcb73nvb5xm3sal3l24wgku-story.html#rt=chartbeat-flt

You walk New York City’s mean streets, you take your chances.

That’s the argument from city lawyers defending a lawsuit brought by the 
family of a prominent architect killed by falling debris from a Midtown 
building.

Erica Tishman died last year after rubble fell from 729 Seventh Ave. and 
struck her in the head. The building had several outstanding violations 
with the Department of Buildings, some of which her family’s lawyers say 
still hadn’t been addressed when the family sued the city and building 
owner in August for wrongful death and negligence.

The city Law Department tried to dodge liability in a new Manhattan 
Supreme Court filing by saying the city streets are known to be dangerous, 
so people on sidewalks should be prepared for the worst.

“Plaintiff(s) knew or should have known in the exercise of due/reasonable 
care of the risks and dangers incident to engaging in the activity 
alleged," the city Law Department wrote — the “activity alleged” being 
walking on a sidewalk.

The Law Department went on:

"Plaintiff(s) voluntarily performed and engaged in the alleged activity 
and assumed the risk of the injuries and/or damages claimed. Plaintiff(s) 
failed to use all required, proper, appropriate and reasonable safety 
devices and/or equipment and failed to take all proper, appropriate and 
reasonable steps to assure his/her/their safety.”

In other words, the city is saying that by “voluntarily” walking down the 
sidewalk, Tishman assumed a risk of injury — including a risk that 
stonework might fall from a building not properly inspected by the city.

By writing that Tishman failed to have “reasonable safety devices and/or 
equipment” — a helmet? — the city offers up another reason she is at least 
partly responsible for her own death.

Benedict Morelli, attorney for the Tishman family, considered the 
arguments insensitive and disrespectful.

“Don’t give me boilerplate answers when you killed a woman!” he shouted.

“This is a very close-knit family. When they hear and see something like 
that, it’s insult to injury. It’s actually more than that because it’s 
insult to death. It absolutely does not give respect to the memory of 
Erica Tishman.”

Tishman, 60, was a married mother of three whose architecture firm 
designed the Trump Plaza Residences, one of two Trump-branded apartment 
buildings in Jersey City, among other buildings.

A graduate of the exclusive Riverdale Country School and both Harvard and 
Princeton, Tishman was married at the Plaza Hotel to Steven Tishman, the 
head of mergers and acquisitions at the investment bank Houlihan Lokey.

Dec. 18, 2019: Death From Above -- Renowned architect Erica Tishman, a 
vice president of a project management firm, was killed by falling debris 
from a 17-story building at Seventh Ave. and 49th St.
Dec. 18, 2019: Death From Above -- Renowned architect Erica Tishman, a 
vice president of a project management firm, was killed by falling debris 
from a 17-story building at Seventh Ave. and 49th St. (New York Daily 
News)
The couple donated generously to the Education Alliance, a Lower East 
Side-non-profit.



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