Does The High Cost Of Cable

Have You Burning Mad?

On September 10, 2010, Plaintiff and his wife were sitting at home, when suddenly their Verizon FiOS router caught fire, causing significant damage to their home.  The Assistant State Fire Marshal issued a report attributing the fire to a malfunction with the router. Plaintiff filed suit against Verizon claiming negligence and sought to recover for the damage to his property.  Verizon moved for summary judgment, arguing that there was no expert opinion in support of Plaintiff’s allegations.

The Superior Court agreed and granted Verizon’s Motion, noting that, at best, the Fire Marshall’s Report established that the router caused the fire, but not that Verizon was negligent. The Court also noted that even the legal theory of “res ipsa loquitor” could not save Plaintiff’s claim. This doctrine is typically invoked when it is next to impossible to prove negligence; however, under the circumstances, the harm could not have happened if not for someone else’s negligence.  For example, if an unusual and large object falls off a building over which a particular individual had exclusive control, and causes injury to another, it could be said that it would not have fallen but for the negligence of the individual with exclusive control over the building. In rejecting this theory, the Court noted that “evidence as to where a fire originated within a piece of machinery does not necessarily warrant an inference of negligence.” In other words, in order to survive the Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiff needed an expert opinion stating that Verizon’s lightning fast Fios speed resulted in more than just quicker downloads and higher definition movies.

If you have any questions regarding this Decision, please contact any of our attorneys in our Liability Department.

Seck v. Verizon, C.A. No. K16C-12-005 NEP (Del. Super. Ct. July 10, 2017)

The Stamp Act Congress or First Congress of the American Colonies was a meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765 in New York’s City Hall, now known as Federal Hall, consisting of representatives from some of the British Colonies in North America and was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American Colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation. Parliament had passed the Stamp Act which required the use of specially stamped paper for legal documents, playing cards, calendars, newspapers and dice for virtually all business in the colonies, and was going into effect on November 1, 1765. On October 19, the delegates adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, in which they proclaimed that Parliament did not have the right to impose the Stamp Act tax because it did not include any representation from the Colonies. The Declaration of Rights contains fourteen statements with the first six laying groundwork, proclaiming loyalty to the crown, and asserting that, according to the Rights of Englishman and the more general “freedom of a people”, only representatives chosen by the Colonists could levy taxes, and because Parliament did not have such representatives, it could not levy taxes. The seventh statement asserts that the Rights of Englishmen afford all colonists the right to trial by jury. The remaining statements protest the unconstitutionality of the Stamp Act, express the economic consequences of the Act, and reiterated the rights of the colonists to petition the crown and Parliament. This Congress is generally viewed as one of the first organized and coordinated political actions of the American Revolution, even though its participants were not at all interested in independence from Great Britain, and it was not until tensions increased by the harsh Parliamentary response to the 1773 Boston Tea Party, which prompted the calling of the First Continental Congress, and produced a united response to the Intolerable Acts of 1774.

Heckler & Frabizzio attorneys Anthony Frabizzio and Amy Taylor attended the annual Delaware Claims Associate vendor exhibit on October 3, 2017. They had a corn hole game set up for the seminar attendees which, was well received and fun for all. Heckler & Frabizzio participates in this event annually, we hope to see you next year!