$4.7 Million Affirmed for Motorcycle Passenger Thrown Into Elevated-Train Pillar on Westchester Avenue

On May 31, 2013, Jose Cabrera was riding as a passenger on a motorcycle traveling along Westchester Avenue near 156th Street in the Bronx when a New York City Transit Authority bus accelerated from behind and merged into the motorcycle's lane. The impact forced the bike into one of the concrete columns supporting the elevated train tracks above the roadway.

The collision left Cabrera with a comminuted, displaced acetabulum fracture requiring open surgery, a comminuted pelvis fracture, a femur dislocation, a mid-shaft ulna fracture that also required open reduction and internal fixation, and fractures to the scapula and five ribs. He spent six months confined to a wheelchair and was placed on narcotic pain medication that he continued to rely on well after the initial recovery period.

Daniel C. Minc of Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff and Wolff tried the case in Bronx County Supreme Court. The jury found the bus driver negligent and apportioned 30 percent of the fault to the Transit Authority defendants. On damages, the jury returned $1.5 million for past pain and suffering and $3 million for future pain and suffering over ten years, plus $600,000 for projected future medical costs.

The New York City Transit Authority appealed. The Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed the negligence finding and both pain-and-suffering awards in full. The court did find the $600,000 future medical award speculative and reduced it to $200,000, bringing the total affirmed judgment to $4.7 million. The Transit Authority's remaining challenges to the verdict were rejected.