$85 Million Verdict for a Pedestrian Run Over by a Manhattan Tour Bus

On the afternoon of July 3, 2015, Devan Sipher, a writer and former New York Times "Vows" columnist, was crossing Sixth Avenue near West Fourth Street in Greenwich Village. He had the walk signal in his favor and was inside the crosswalk when a double-decker sightseeing tour bus making a left turn struck him and pulled him beneath the vehicle.

The collision was catastrophic. The bus, weighing roughly thirteen tons, partially crushed Sipher's left leg and foot. He suffered a severed femoral artery and femoral vein, nerve damage that left him with a permanent foot drop, extensive degloving wounds, a fractured right clavicle, and an adrenal injury that requires lifelong steroid therapy. He spent 78 days at Bellevue Hospital and underwent roughly a dozen operations, and he continues to rely on a leg brace and ongoing pain treatment.

Gair Gair Conason represented Sipher at a five-week trial in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, before Justice Barbara Jaffe. Howard S. Hershenhorn led the case, with Diana M. Carnemolla serving as second chair. The firm argued that the tour bus operator was negligent: as the driver executed the turn, he failed to yield to a pedestrian who was lawfully in the crosswalk with the signal, and he did not see Sipher in time to stop. A large sightseeing bus making a turn through a busy Greenwich Village intersection, the firm contended, demanded heightened care that the operator did not exercise.

Through the trial, the firm laid out both the mechanics of the crash and the lasting human cost of the injuries. It presented the medical record of multiple surgeries, the vascular and nerve damage, and the permanent disabilities Sipher would carry for the rest of his life, including a writing and performing career disrupted by his recovery.

The jury deliberated less than a day before returning its verdict. It awarded $45 million for past pain and suffering and $40 million for future pain and suffering, for an $85 million total, in addition to stipulated economic losses.

The award was reported as the largest personal-injury jury verdict in New York State in 2018 and among the top results nationally that year. As is common after a large verdict, the parties later resolved the matter for an undisclosed amount.