Note: The following material was originally published in VerdictSearch.com.
SETTLEMENT: $800,000
CASE TYPE: Left Turn, Motor Vehicle - Question of Lights, Motor Vehicle - Bus
VENUE: Queens Supreme, NY. JUDGE: Peter Kelly. DATE: 04-08-2003
PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: Stuart Wagner: Morrison & Wagner: New York, NY
DEFENDANT'S ATTORNEY: Mark S. Yagerman; Smith, Mature, Director, Wilkins, Young & Yagerman P.C.; New York, NY, for New York City Transit Authority, Pamela Jones
FACTS: On Nov. 1, 1999, plaintiff, age 35, a customs agent, was driving on 150th Avenue, near 148th Street in the cargo area of John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, N.Y.
The plaintiff claimed that he approached the intersection with a green traffic signal, and that a New York City Transit Authority bus traveling in the opposite direction made a left turn in front of him, causing the two vehicles to collide. The plaintiff sued the New York City Transit Authority and the bus driver, Pamela Jones. He claimed that Jones should have seen his car and yielded.
At her deposition, Jones claimed that she believed that if the signal was green for vehicles traveling in her direction, it would have been red for the opposite direction.
The plaintiff's attorney called a records-keeper from the New York City Port Authority, who testified that there is no lag on the green light for the opposing lanes of traffic at the subject intersection, so one side would not have been red while the other was green.
The Transit Authority and Jones argued that the bus she was driving was large and that it had begun to turn at the time of the accident. Thus, she alleged that the plaintiff was not paying attention or he would have seen the bus.
The plaintiff testified that as he approached the intersection he looked to the right to check if any cars were making an illegal right-hand turn on red, which he claimed he had seen occur many times before at the same location, and so his head was turned away from the bus at the moment that it started to turn.
Two nonparty witnesses testified that the plaintiff was traveling at a high rate of speed. and that the bus was into its turn at the time of the impact.
Photographs of the bus showed the point of impact to be the right-side door on the front of the bus. The trial was bifurcated.
INJURY
The plaintiff was transported to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens. N.Y. He sustained a right patella fracture, which he claimed required a patellectomy, open reduction and internal fixation. He also sustained a multicomminuted fracture of his right calcaneus, which required immediate closed reduction and a later surgery for open reduction and internal fixation with a screw and plate: and a left-ankle fracture and an acute left-talus fracture, both of which required open reduction, internal fixation and casting.
The plaintiff also sustained a five-centimeter laceration on the chin, which required sutures and resulted in a permanent scar. He was wheelchair-bound at the time of the trial and still undergoes physical therapy and rehabilitation. The plaintiff's injuries were not before the jury
VERDICT INFORMATION: The case settled during jury deliberation on liability.
