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PLAINTIFF’S VERDICT IN THIS SUBWAY ACCIDENT CASE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SET ASIDE; PLAINTIFF WAS STRUCK BY A TRAIN AND ALLEGED THE ALLOWED SPEED FOR ENTERING A STATION WAS TOO HIGH; DEFENDANT TRANSIT AUTHORITY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO PRESENT EVIDENCE THAT SPEED STUDIES HAD BEEN CONDUCTED IN SUPPORT OF THE QUALIFIED IMMUNITY DEFENSE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Mazzarelli, determined the NYC Transit Authority’s (TA’s) motion to aside the plaintiff’s verdict in this subway accident case should have been granted. Plaintiff was on the tracks when he was struck by a train. Plaintiff argued the speed regulations allowed the train to enter the station at an unsafe speed. The trial judge prohibited the TA from introducing evidence demonstrating it was entitled to qualified immunity because it had conducted studies to determine the appropriate train speed:

The evidence that the TA proffered, and that the trial court precluded, suggested that it may have been entitled to qualified immunity. … Korach’s (the TA’s expert’s] testimony indicated that the TA’s speed policy was consistent with “universally accepted rapid transit system operating practice” … . Accordingly, Korach should have been permitted to testify about the policies that other rapid transit systems have in place with respect to speed restrictions in subway and train stations, including in cases where those stations are situated on curved sections of track. Further, … the testimony that the TA’s own witnesses would have given was designed to demonstrate that the speed policy enabled the “efficient running of a transportation system which serves millions of passengers every year” … . This language suggests that the trial court’s decision to limit evidence of speed policy decisions to their effects on a particular subway line was too restrictive, since the cases applying qualified immunity in subway speed cases take into account the effects that slower speeds would have on the entire subway system. Pedraza v New York City Tr. Auth., 2022 NY Slip Op 00255, First Dept 1-13-22

Similar issues in a case involving a similar accident in which the Pedraza (supra) trial-level evidentiary rulings on qualified immunity were applied under the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Because Pedraza was reversed, this case was reversed as well. Martinez v New York City Tr. Auth., 2022 NY Slip Op 00252, First Dept 1-11-22

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