SKETCHES OF COURT: Plaintiff loses trip-and-fall case against city
In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Wavny Toussaint listens as attorney Brielle Goldfaden (standing, left), of the law firm Wingate, Russotti, Shapiro & Halperin, conducts a direct examination of the plaintiff in the trial Shadrin v. City of New York that took place last week in Kings County Civil Term.
At issue in the bifurcated trial was the question of liability. The plaintiff alleged that he injured himself when he tripped and fell over a 4-inch crack in the sidewalk on the south side of Avenue S between 15th and 16th streets in Brooklyn, in the shadow of the Q and B trains’ elevated overpass. The accident occurred in October 2011.
The Russian-speaking plaintiff is seen testifying with the assistance of court translator Olga Kildishova, while court reporter Minerva Marin transcribes the proceedings. At right is Judge Toussaint’s assistant law clerk Shirley Paul (background) and court clerk Ingrid Dandy (foreground).
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.