GUILDERLAND — The town of Guilderland has been named as a co-defendant in a lawsuit brought by an Albany County woman who claims the town’s negligence and carelessness led her to “sustain severe and permanent personal injuries.”

The Oct. 16 lawsuit filed by Donna Casey claims that on Aug. 29, 2021, Casey was cycling on Fuller Road under the CSX overpass, near the Albany city line when she was injured. CSX and Albany are also named as co-defendants.

The filing states Casey’s injuries were a result of the area being “unsafe and dangerous” because it had been “negligently and improperly constructed and maintained,” which caused the area to become “uneven, unleveled, depressed, cracked, broken, raised, slanted and/or covered in debris consisting of rocks, dirt, pebbles, and other materials which comprised the run-off from the adjacent slope, causing the plaintiff to trip and fall at said location ….”

Davis did not put a dollar figure on the amount of damages she is seeking.

The filing claims the town on “numerous occasions” advised CSX of the “dangerous conditions which existed at the subject location, but CSX failed to meaningfully respond and remediate the dangerous condition.”

Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber, on the advice of counsel, declined to comment on the suit. 

CSX said the company does not comment on matters in litigation. 

Last February, Guilderland tightened its law on citizens’ obligation to inform the town of defects in highways, bridges, streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, or culverts before any payments could be awarded for injuries.

Before any damages can be awarded, a resident must have filed a written complaint that one of those town structures is “defective, out of repair, unsafe, dangerous, or obstructed” and there must have been “a failure or neglect within a reasonable time after giving such notice to repair or remove the defect, danger, or obstruction complained of.”

Without legal safeguards in place, Barber said at the time, “Our premiums would go up by hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Barber said in February that there were no claims against the town.