SKETCHES OF COURT: Cellar door at issue in premises liability trial
In this courtroom sketch Hon. Loren Baily-Schiffman listens as plaintiff’s attorney Ernest N. Reece (standing), trial counsel to the law firm Cherny & Podolsky, addresses the jury during summations in the premises liability trial Aguilar v. Pressmark Corp.
Dolores Aguilar walked into a Boerum Hill bodega at 139 Third Ave. to buy milk in Nov. of 2012, but exited in an ambulance. The elderly Aguilar claimed that she was seriously injured when she fell through a trap door and rolled down a flight of cellar steps. At issue was the determination of liability.
Reece sought to prove that Pressmark Corp. was negligent in its duty of care. Reece alleged that the accident was caused by a defective door in the shopping floor that had been screwed shut after a prior similar incident, and which gave way when Aguilar stepped on it. Aguilar testified with the help of a Spanish language interpreter that she “sank” through the floor.