72-Year-Old Passenger Thrown From MTA Bus Wins $1.5 Million Verdict
After trial: Affirmed. The Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed the $1,500,000 judgment in full on July 11, 2018, and no further appeal has been reported.
Won by Silberstein & Miklos.
A 72-year-old woman was thrown to the floor of a Queens city bus in April 2012 when the driver pulled away from the curb before she reached her seat, tearing the menisci in her knee and causing spinal and post-concussive injuries. A Supreme Court, Queens County jury found MTA Bus Co. negligent and awarded her $1,500,000 in past and future pain and suffering. The Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed both the liability finding and the damages award in full in 2018. Robert Miklos of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. represented her at trial and on appeal.
What happened
On the afternoon of April 2, 2012, Apolonia Castillo, then 72 years old, boarded a city bus operated by MTA Bus Co. at a stop on 57th Avenue between 97th Place and 98th Street in Queens. She paid her fare and was still standing at the farebox near the front of the bus when the driver pulled away from the curb. The sudden acceleration threw her to the floor.
Castillo tore the menisci in her left knee, an injury that required arthroscopic surgery. She also suffered disc bulges in her cervical and lumbar spine, with radiculopathy in the lumbar spine, and was later diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome. She sued MTA Bus Co. in Supreme Court, Queens County, arguing the driver pulled into traffic before she had a chance to sit down or take hold of a rail.
The case was tried in two phases. A jury first heard evidence on liability and found unanimously that MTA Bus Co. was negligent and that its negligence was a substantial factor in causing Castillo's fall. In the second phase, which followed immediately, the same jury found that her injuries met the 'serious injury' threshold under New York Insurance Law Section 5102(d), the standard a plaintiff must clear to recover for pain and suffering in a motor vehicle case.
The jury awarded Castillo $500,000 for past pain and suffering, covering the three years since the fall, and $1,000,000 for ten years of future pain and suffering, for a total of $1,500,000. It found both a significant limitation of use of a body function or system and a permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member. The court entered judgment on the verdict on November 2, 2015.
MTA Bus Co. appealed, challenging both the negligence finding and the size of the damages award. The Appellate Division, Second Department rejected the challenge on July 11, 2018, holding that the jury's negligence finding was supported by the evidence and that the award did not deviate materially from reasonable compensation given Castillo's age and the extent of her injuries. The court affirmed the $1,500,000 judgment in full.
Robert Miklos of Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. represented Castillo at trial and on the appeal. As a judgment against a public transit authority, the award was not dependent on a private insurer; MTA Bus Co. is a public benefit corporation backed by New York State.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Castillo v MTA Bus Co., 2018 NY Slip Op 05134 (2d Dep't July 11, 2018), official NY court reporter·Archived copy
- 2.Justia mirror of the same appellate opinion, docket 2015-11980
- 3.Castillo v. MTA Bus Co., via CourtListener
- 4.New York Injury Cases Blog (John M. Hochfelder), Sept. 2018 case summary of the same appellate decision·Archived copy
More proven verdicts from Silberstein & Miklos
All Silberstein & Miklos proven verdicts →A Kings County jury found New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation liable for the delayed diagnosis and treatment of a subdural hematoma in Carlyle Roberts, a 67-year-old brought to Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn after a hit-and-run crash, leaving him cognitively impaired, weak on his left side and dependent on others. The jury awarded $29,361,000, including $21,500,000 for pain and suffering, before the trial judge set the verdict aside and ordered a new trial over alleged misconduct in plaintiff's counsel's summation. The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed that order on February 24, 2021, reinstated the verdict, and separately found the pain and suffering award excessive, cutting it to $9,000,000. With the $7,861,000 future expense award left undisturbed, $16,861,000 stood. Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. (Robert A. Miklos) appeared for the plaintiff on the appeal, with Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & DeCicco, LLP (Brian J. Isaac) of counsel.
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