Utility Will Pay $7.2 Million in Woman's Electrocution (ConEd NYC)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/nyregion/24coned.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=5a7ad78c6af52c1a&hp&ex=1101272400&partner=homepage

Nearly a year after a woman was electrocuted while walking her dogs on a wet East Village street, Consolidated Edison has agreed to pay her family more than $6.2 million and to set up a $1 million scholarship fund in her name at Columbia University, where she was a doctoral student.

The settlement, announced late yesterday, ended months of negotiations between Con Edison and the family of the woman, Jodie S. Lane, who died the night of Jan. 16 after stepping on an electrified metal plate near a bakery on East 11th Street.

Ms. Lane's sudden death set off a firestorm of criticism of the utility that led to aggressive new safety rules and citywide inspections of electrical equipment that turned up hundreds of locations where the public was exposed to stray voltage.

Under the terms of the settlement, Con Edison will provide a $1 million fund at the Teachers College for scholarships and research in the clinical psychology department, where Ms. Lane, 30, was completing her degree. The Jodie Lane Fund - which will receive five annual installments of $200,000 each - will be established after legal proceedings are completed, probably early next year, said a spokesman for the college, Joe Levine.

[Straight Shooter]

1. "hundreds of locations where the public was exposed to stray voltage"

Without a lawsuit, how long would this situation have gone on? And people hate trial lawyers, uh, why?

Guardians of the public.

[countmyvote4real]

2. At least my next rate increase will be earmarked in her name.

Don’t get me wrong. They should be fined. Con Ed’s negligence was clearly responsible for her death. However, they might appear to pay in the short term, but in the long term they will pass that cost onto their customers.

[kwyjibo]

3. I totally misunderstood this headline

when I first read it, I imagined 7.2 million dollars worth of electricity being used to put a woman to death in the electric chair.. in New York.

silly me :)

[Dem2theMax]

4. Hate to admit it, but I thought the same thing.

Then again, we have leaky plumbing and I have been up all night emptying the pots and pans so that the new kitchen floor won't be ruined. So my brain gets a pass. I need some sleep!
(and a plumber.) :crazy:

[Mel]

5. can you turn your water main off?

somebody please help this person out I know they can turn the water main off. I know at my house it's outside in the front yard where you can turn it off.

[Sleepless In NY]

6. She was a beautiful person

And her death was totally unnecessary. Glad to see the money will be put to good use, helping other students, know she would have liked that.

[DS1]

7. From the article I thought it meant they were planning to spend that

much on an execution.

And what's with all the stray voltage? You'd think they'd be able to bring down prices after plugging all those holes - like that'll ever happen :eyes: