During seasons of extreme cold or extreme heat, the residents of New York depend on electricity services to provide ongoing heating and cooling. Without dependable power, residents may suffer serious injury or illness because of prolonged exposure to the cold or the heat or may need power to run vital medical equipment.
Power outages are generally considered part of living in the modern world. While they are never convenient, in most cases, all parties involved work as quickly as possible to restore power when it blacks out. However, in some cases, some parties may not respond quickly enough to their duties, and those depending on them may suffer. Depending on the nature of the injury a victim receives and the duty that some other party bears to care for the individual, failure to address a power outage properly may lead to legal action.
The specifics of how this might work vary significantly from case to case, so if you suspect you may have a serious injury claim, it is wise to consult with an experienced attorney who understands how to navigate lawsuits involving municipal entities or large service businesses. With proper legal guidance, you can confidently explore all your options and protect your rights.
Did someone fail to provide a duty to you?
The difficult part in any case involving a power outage is identifying a party that failed a duty to you. While it is certainly frustrating to experience a power outage, many outages occur in ways that power suppliers cannot control or avoid. In many cases, power outages occur as a part of a destructive weather event, such as a blizzard or hurricane. The ability of modern technology to withstand these events simply has its limits, and often the best that a power provider can do is respond quickly and get power back on as soon as possible.
Depending on the scale of the outage and other obstructions that may slow the process, restoring power may take hours or days.
However, if a municipality responsible for your power ignores your need, then you may have grounds for a lawsuit, especially if you or someone you love suffered an injury or illness due to the outage.
Often, the legal actions that power outages generate focus on parties with smaller scopes of influence, who fail to uphold their responsibilities properly. If, for instance, you or your loved one is in a hospital or elder care home at the time of the outage, the hospital or care facility itself should have backup generators to keep patients' needs met, especially those who depend on complex medical equipment like dialysis. If the party responsible to keep the power on with generators fails to do so, then you may have grounds to sue them.
You may even have grounds to sue the manufacturer of a backup generator if the generator failed to provide power despite proper maintenance and operation. These lawsuits operate in a completely different way than those against a party who failed its duty to you, so be sure that you fully understand your legal options before you move forward.
Don't fight for justice alone
You deserve fair treatment from those you depend on, and when they fail you, it can feel overwhelming. Do not allow yourself to give in to these overwhelming feelings. You can always reach out to an experienced attorney to review your options and identify strong strategies for pursuing justice and fair compensation.