Parents Plan to Sue Library, School District Over Teen's Injury

The parents of a teen said to be injured by a falling newspaper stand at the Chappaqua Library are seeking to sue both the library and the Chappaqua school district.

In a petition filed Jan. 24 with the state supreme court in White Plains, Alyzza Ozer, a Chappaqua resident, claims that her daughter was wounded by an exposed metal part of the stand, causing a knee injury and a leg laceration. Negligence from the defendants is stated as a cause for legal action.

Ozer, her daughter and her husband, Ira, are co-plaintiffs but she is acting as the petitioner. Ozer states that her daughter, a student in the district, was on a field trip to the library on April 10, 2012 with her school's science class. The teen was then treated by a school nurse and needed six stiches, Ozer stated.

The petition does not state why the stand fell.

The document filed, however, is not a lawsuit. In order for a lawsuit to go forward, Ozer needs to get permission from a judge because a notice of claim, the requisite paperwork needed for declaring an intent to sue public entites, was not filed on time. The deadline for a notice is 90 days after an incident, but Ozer did not file one until Aug. 13, 2012, which was 124 days after.

Ozer is seeking to get the deadline waived, and notes that she was in contact with the library's insurer about the incident shortly after it happened. She states that she got a correspondance from insurer Utica Mutual Life Insurance Company around April 17, 2012, spoke with a representative and was then told that coverage of the incident was being disclaimed.

Damages are not specified in the petition, but the notice of claim states that pain and suffering, medical bills and lost earnings were incurred.

An attorney for Ozer declined to comment about the case.

A lawyer representing the library and school district acknowledged receipt of the petition and said it is returnable on Feb. 20; the attorney declined to comment further.

Chappaqua Library Director Pamela Thornton said she was not aware of the Jan. 24 petition but declined to get into further specifics about the matter.