On Aug. 18, 2005, plaintiff Debra Matthews, 50, an unemployed developmental aide who was receiving disability benefits, attempted to board a subway train that was stopped in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue station. The train’s doors closed on her while she was entering the train, and she fell and sustained injuries of an ankle, her face and a leg.
Matthews sued the train’s operator, the New York City Transit Authority. She alleged that the train’s conductor was negligent in his or her operation of the train’s doors. She further alleged that the New York City Transit Authority was liable for the conductor’s actions and that it negligently failed to properly supervise and train the conductor. She also alleged that the New York City Transit Authority negligently failed to ensure that the train’s doors were safe.
Matthews claimed that the conductor failed to ensure that the doors could be safely closed. She contended that the conductor never warned that the doors were about to close.
Matthews’ counsel also claimed that the conductor was not properly supervised or trained, that the doors’ edges were not covered by an adequate layer of padding, and that the New York City Transit Authority failed to adequately maintain and repair the doors.
Defense counsel contended that Matthews’ counsel could not affirmatively establish that there had ever been prior problems with regard to the opening or closing of the train’s doors or that the conductor failed to make appropriate announcements. He also contended that Matthews’ counsel could not establish that the doors’ warning bells failed to sound in Matthews’ car or indicate how long the doors stayed open before they allegedly closed on her.
Based on observations of New York City Transit Authority personnel and a responding police officer and on admissions Matthews made to an emergency medical technician and a physician’s assistant, defense counsel argued that the accident was likely caused by Matthews’ intoxication. She had allegedly consumed about one pint of vodka earlier on the day of the accident. Defense counsel contended that this intoxication would have impaired her ability to understand and recall the events in question.
Matthews was transported to Long Island College Hospital, in Brooklyn. She underwent minor treatment.
Matthews ultimately claimed that she sustained an extra-articular chip fracture of her right ankle’s malleolus, which is the ankle’s bony protuberance; tears of the same ankle’s anterior and posterior talofibular ligaments; a tear of the same ankle’s calcaneofibular ligament; a spiral fracture of the distal portion of her right leg’s fibula; and lacerations of the inner and outer portions of her lips. Her lacerations were addressed via the application of 10 sutures. Matthews also claimed that her injured ankle developed effusion, which is a buildup of a joint’s lubricating fluid. She contended that she was homebound and bedridden during the several weeks that followed the accident. She also contended that her injuries prevented her performance of about three months of work.
Matthews further claimed that she suffers a permanent residual reduction of her right ankle’s range of motion, and she contended that she bears a permanent residual scar of a lip. She sought recovery of her past medical expenses, her past lost earnings, and damages for her past and future pain and suffering.
Defense counsel contended that Matthews merely sustained a sprain of her right ankle. He claimed that her right leg’s spiral fracture preexisted the accident.
The jury rendered a defense verdict. It found that the New York City Transit Authority was not liable for the accident.
Judge James Starkey denied plaintiff’s counsel’s oral motion for a new trial.