Woman Burned by Scorching Hot Manhole Cover Sues Consolidated Edison

By Merylee Robbins

Published on August 01, 2005

Elizabeth Wallenberg, 27, fell onto the steam pipe manhole cover and sustained intense burns to her buttocks and arm leaving permanent scars. When she fell, Wallenberg could hear her skin sizzling as it came into contact with the cover. Wallenberg's lawsuit was filed in Manhattan's State Supreme Court and accuses Consolidated Edison of negligence and carelessness, as well as recklessness and culpable conduct for her burns.

Attorney for Wallenburg, Ronald Berman, believes that she is worthy of receiving compensatory and punitive damages as a result of Consolidated Edison's failure to protect the public from the dangerous manhole cover.

Another case involving a manhole cover went to trial in Los Angeles County in 2001 when a bus driver drove his bus over a cracked manhole cover and broke it, causing his bus to go out of control This incident caused serious injury to the driver, requiring surgery in which severe complications arose, leaving him in intensive care for 4 days. He sued the County of Los Angeles for the accident, claiming that the damaged manhole cover should have been replaced during inspection over a year before. The jury awarded Mr. Todd $2.03 million dollars.

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