A woman tripped and fell on a New York City sidewalk that Con Edison had broken up for work reasons, but had failed to repair.
She suffered a broken wrist, and continues to suffer from post-traumatic arthritis.
This case settled for $125,000 in 2017.
Trips such as these occur because pedestrians are not simply looking down, but at the myriad other obstructions that may be in their paths, such as other people, cars, sign posts, dogs, street vendors, etc.
A longer discussion of how such trips and falls occur — and a short minute and a half video of how a mere ½” change in a subway step causes innumerable people to trip and stumble – can be found here: Trips and Falls (And Expectations)
