Manhattan Jury Awards $35 Million to Former JPMorgan Analyst Left with Brain Injury by Shattering Lobby Door

On February 2, 2015, Meghan Brown was 27 years old and working as an analyst at JPMorgan when she walked through the lobby of 271 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. A large glass entrance door shattered as she passed, sending shards of glass into her head. She left the building that day with a traumatic brain injury that would alter the course of her life.

Brown developed a range of permanent neurological symptoms: extreme sensitivity to light and noise, chronic headaches, vertigo, impaired cognitive function, memory loss, and a complete loss of smell and taste. She also suffered debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder. Her career at JPMorgan ended. The trial stretched nine years from the date of the incident to the jury's verdict.

Thomas Moore of Kramer Dillof Livingston and Moore represented Brown at trial. The evidence established that the door that failed was the third glass door at the building to break in a similar manner. Expert testimony showed that two people pushing simultaneously on such a door could not cause it to shatter without a pre-existing structural defect, pointing to a maintenance and inspection failure by the building's ownership group, 271 Madison Co.

On March 28, 2024, the jury found 271 Madison Co. 100% liable and returned a verdict of $35.15 million: $1.75 million for past pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, $20 million for future pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and $13.4 million for future medical expenses.

After the verdict, 271 Madison Co. moved to set it aside. The building's legal team disclosed that private investigators had conducted nine months of covert video surveillance of Brown in Naples, Florida, capturing footage they argued contradicted her trial testimony about the extent of her limitations. Moore called the effort 'utter desperation,' noting that jurors had observed Brown in the courtroom daily throughout trial and that her testimony had always acknowledged intermittent rather than constant limitations. Manhattan Supreme Court denied the motion to set aside the verdict in a May 2025 ruling. 271 Madison Co. appealed to the Appellate Division, First Department, but the court deemed the appeal withdrawn on April 9, 2026, leaving the verdict intact.