Spoiled-food lawsuit against LIPA dismissed

A Nassau judge has dismissed a small claims lawsuit by a Massapequa man who wanted the Long Island Power Authority held responsible for his food spoiling during a 10-day blackout following superstorm Sandy.

Judge Michael Ciaffa said in a decision released Thursday that while LIPA did a poor job of communicating with customers and restoring power after the October storm, those failures did not amount to the "gross negligence" required under the law to hold them responsible for rotting food.

The man who filed the suit, Robert Balacki, could not be reached for comment. An attorney representing LIPA also could not be reached.

The decision made note of an interim report by New York State's Moreland Commission on Utility Storm Preparation and Response released Jan. 7, which found LIPA's system for restoring power "archaic" and said utility officials failed to "communicate accurate real-time information about outages and restoration."

However, the judge said such failures do not make LIPA liable under the law.

"Regrettably, higher court decisions have made plain that public utilities, like LIPA, may avoid liability for ordinary negligence" as long they publish a disclaimer saying they are not responsible, which LIPA did, Ciaffa wrote.

LIPA did make some efforts to plan for Sandy in advance, prioritize customers afterward and bring in outside crews to help restore power fast, the judge noted.

"While the adequacy of such actions have rightly been criticized by the Moreland Commission and others, LIPA's negligence, however palpable, was not so 'gross' as to be actionable in cases like this one," Ciaffa concluded.