The Metropolitan Transit Authority is one of the busiest in the world, with millions of riders utilizing its subways and buses each day. While generally a safe form of transportation, the MTA has been seeing a spate of accidents lately. One of those accidents involved a man’s clothing catching on a subway train as he was dragged to his death. Other accidents have involved pieces of tracks and construction work falling to strike cars and trucks passing beneath the rails. The New York Post reports on a man who recently was awarded over $100 million in an MTA lawsuit.
On Tuesday, April 9th, a Brooklyn jury awarded 26-year-old Robert Liciaga $110,174,972.38 for an accident that left the man paralyzed from the waist down.
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In the court documents, the NYC Transit Authority was performing subway maintenance without barricades while also failing to warn pedestrians away from the area where the maintenance was being performed. A supervisor allegedly had two workers drag a 10-foot railroad tie to the edge of the girder, where it was dropped off the side.
The beam landed on Liciaga and ruptured his spine. At the time, Liciaga was a healthy 23-year-old who enjoyed cycling on a regular basis and played basketball regularly. Now, he is confined to a wheelchair and lives at a nursing facility.
Attorneys for the New York Transit Authority tried to argue that Liciaga should have never entered the construction site. They commented that they would be appealing the verdict and looking to reduce the amount of the award.
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