The plaintiff in this case was a 14-year-old girl who was run over by a Municipal Railway trolley bus when she was crossing the street near her house in a marked crosswalk. The Municipal Railway bus operator was drunk at the time and had a history of drunk driving convictions.
As a result of the accident, plaintiff had all of her toes on one foot amputated.
The law offices of Winer, Burritt & Scott, LLP, was able to establish that if the bus driver had not been drunk and had been paying attention, he would have seen plaintiff walking in the crosswalk before he started moving his bus forward from a stop sign. In addition, the law firm alleged that the defendant Railway had inadequate policies and procedures in place, and failed to properly enforce the procedures that were utilized, to prevent its operators from driving under the influence.
Defendant MUNI Railway alleged that it had no way of knowing the bus operator was drunk on the day of the accident and that plaintiff negligently walked in front of a bus that was moving or that she should have known was about to move.
The litigation of this case received significant mediation attention in the Bay Area due to the fact that this was one of the highest settlements paid by the defendant Railway and the fact that the defendant Railway allowed a person with a significant drunk driving history to operate one of its buses.
RESULT: Settlement for the plaintiff, $1,700,000