Brooklyn Jury Verdict of $600,000 for 12 Yr Old Girl Upheld On Appeal
On August 11, 2021, an appeals court covering Kings County upheld the decision of Justice Silber which denied a post-trial motion by the NYC Transit Authority to set aside a jury verdict in favor of a then 12 year old girl who slipped and fell on a puddle of water at the Grand Army Plaza subway station in 2011. At trial in 2019, the jury awarded the young lady $200,000 for past pain and suffering and $400,000 for future pain and suffering. (The injuries were not described in the decision or publicly available online). Interestingly, the NYCTA raised two issues on appeal: whether the amounts awarded were excessive; and, whether the verdict was inconsistent because the jury found that the young lady was also negligent but that her negligence was NOT a proximate cause of the accident.
The appeals court found that the sums awarded did not deviate materially from what would be considered reasonable compensation and that "the jury's determination is entitled to great deference." It was also held as to the second argument that "the issues of negligence and proximate cause were not inextricably interwoven, and the jury's determination that the plaintiff was negligent but that her negligence was not a proximate cause of the accident was supported by a fair interpretation of the evidence." Olive v New York City Transit Authority, 2021 NY Slip Op 04666
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