An elderly woman from Texas has filed a lawsuit against a Brooklyn deli owner claiming that she suffered severe injuries from falling into an unmarked open sidewalk vault outside the store on a rainy night last November.
Marilyn Krahn, a resident of Lubbock, Texas, filed a complaint against Kamal Uddin and A.R. Deli Coffee Shop Inc. located at 29-31 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn. According to the complaint, Krahn was part of a group visiting Brooklyn for a basketball tournament at the Barclays Center when she fell into an open vault outside the deli during poor weather conditions. The document details how "the condition of the opened vault grate or covering was not 'open and obvious' to pedestrians," leading to her fall and subsequent hospitalization with severe injuries including a ruptured globe of her right eye and facial fractures.
Krahn's legal team argues that Kamal Uddin, CEO and owner of A.R. Deli Coffee Shop Inc., failed to ensure safety measures around the open vault. The complaint alleges multiple counts of negligence against both Uddin and his business, citing their failure to close or adequately mark the vault area with cones or signage as required by New York Administrative Code § 19-119. The lawsuit accuses them of creating a dangerous condition that was not apparent due to inadequate lighting and lack of warnings on that rainy evening.
Krahn is demanding compensation exceeding $75,000 for damages related to her physical injuries and emotional distress caused by what she describes as reckless disregard for pedestrian safety. Her legal representation is seeking punitive damages as well, highlighting what they perceive as willful negligence on the part of Uddin and his employees.
Marilyn Krahn is represented by attorneys Clifford A. Rieders and Sasha B. Coffiner of Rieders, Travis, Dohrmann, Mowrey, Humphrey & Waters. The case was filed in the Eastern District of New York under Case No.: 25-CV-1096.