Smithtown settles with cleaning woman for $50G

The Town of Smithtown has agreed to pay $50,000 to a Shirley woman who broke her foot while cleaning the town’s water district offices.

Zulma Cortes, now 38, was injured on July 27, 2007, when a fire hydrant in the lobby of the water district office on Route 25A in Smithtown fell on her left foot.

The hydrant was “purely decorative” and not secured to the floor, said her attorney, Michael Manolakis of Hauppauge. Cortes suffered serious injuries and “mental anguish” and was unable to work, according to court papers.

Cortes had worked for Building Star Corporate Services of Ronkonkoma, which cleaned the office under contract with Smithtown. Cortes no longer works for the company, Manolakis said.

A jury last year in Suffolk County State Supreme Court found the town to be 60 percent liable for the accident and Cortes 40 percent liable, Manolakis said.

The settlement, reached after the trial, was approved Tuesday by the Smithtown town board.