SKETCHES OF COURT: City settles trial involving traffic signal malfunction
In this courtroom sketch Hon. Edgar Walker listens as plaintiff’s attorney Anthony Genovesi (standing), of the law firm Abrams Fensterman, directs his opening remarks to the jury in the motor vehicle accident trial Weisberg v. Fiddle and the City of New York. Court reporter George Davila recorded the proceedings.
Alan Weisberg was driving eastbound on Avenue R when he approached the corner of E. 13th St. in December 2001. A northbound car smacked his car broadside in the intersection and spun it around 180 degrees. Thomas Colameo (far right), of the law firm Ahmuty, Demers & McManus, represented the defendant driver. Genovesi faulted Fiddle for failing to see what should have been seen.
While both drivers claimed they had green lights, they realized there was a traffic light malfunction. Genovesi theorized that the traffic control device had shorted and failed to detect inconsistent signals, though a field inspector for the City testified that the technical sequence of events to yield that result was highly unlikely. Carl Schaerf (leaning in at right), of the law firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, was trial counsel for New York City’s Corporation Counsel.
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