By Tom Tracy
It’s a dog’s life A Gravesend man, as well as the realty company that manages his building, was sued last week for allegedly failing to properly restrain a “dog with dangerous propensities” that attacked an infant back in May 2005. In the suit filed on January 31, attorneys for the plaintiff said that he was outside the dog owner’s apartment on the 270 block of Avenue P near West 4th Street when the defendant’s dog “attacked plaintiff without any provocation or fault of the plaintiff in any way.” Although the breed of the dog is never detailed, the suit states that the young plaintiff was “attacked, jumped upon bit and chewed.” The owner of the dog, identified was allegedly “negligent in that he did not warn or appraise the plaintiff or others of the aforesaid dog’s vicious propensities” as well as “failing to provide proper leashes, muzzles and or restraining devices.” “As a result, the plaintiff was seriously injured in mind and body by reason of the negligence of the defendant in the ownership, operation control and harboring of said vicious, wild animals,” the suit states. The management company was listed as a co-defendant because the attack took place in their building. Two wheeled terror (but not what you think) A Borough Park man is suing Federal Express, claiming that he was the victim of an unfortunate impact with a wayward hand truck owned by the global delivery company. In the lawsuit filed at the Brooklyn County Clerk’s Office on February 9, the 48th Street resident said that he was walking along Park Avenue South in Manhattan at 1:45 p.m. on September 26, 2006 when he was “violently struck” by a FedEx hand truck laden with heavy boxes. At the time of the impact, the hand truck, operated by co-defendant and FedEx employee Villanueva Sancheze, was allegedly being operated “at an improper and/or rate of speed” and “in an unsafe manner.” “It is the duty of the defendants to operate, maintain, manage, and control the aforesaid hand truck in a safe and proper manner so as not to endanger the life and limbs of any person, including the plaintiff,” the suit says. As a result, the would-be victim has “suffered injuries both external and internal, was caused to and did seek and obtain medical aid and attention in an attempt to cure himself and was caused to suffer great pain, agony and mental anguish,” the lawsuit states. “The plaintiff verily believes that the same will continue for a long time to come and that the injuries are permanent.” The papers filed to the county clerk’s office do not outline the exact extent of his injuries. A spokesperson for FedEx said that they have yet to see a copy of the lawsuit and “could not comment at this time.” Summer home swindle A Flushing couple who sells vacation homes in Tennessee is being sued by a Bay Ridge woman who claims that they refused to return her initial down payment to her after she decided to back out of the agreement. In her lawsuit filed on February 9, plaintiff Catherine Park claimed that she learned about defendants company Luxury Vacation Homes, Inc. through an advertisement in a Korean newspaper offering vacation properties located in Tennessee for a down payment of between $5,000 and $30,000. Park alleges that on January 2, she met the defendants at a Korean bakery in Flushing and went about “executing an agreement” to purchase the property. But Park claims that the consulting agreement that she hammered out with the Shins was in fact a “thinly disguised broker commission agreement” that they couldn’t legally receive because they were not licensed real estate brokers. The suit claims that Park gave them $5,000 for a down payment and then put an additional $10,000 in an escrow account. Everything seemed relatively above board until the defendants allegedly made attempts to get their hands on the $10,000 held in escrow, even though they had received a letter dated on August 11 from Park’s attorney explaining that she was not going to go through with the purchase, the lawsuit states. When they received a letter from Park’s attorney on September 1 demanding the return of the $5,000 down payment and the $10,000 held in escrow, they allegedly refused. The money had not been returned as of the date the lawsuit was filed. Park is suing for the $15,000 as well as punitive damages amounting to $35,000. Attempts to contact Luxury Vacation were unsuccessful as this paper went to press.
