Luisa Janssen Harger Da Silva, a Brazilian student, has been awarded $82 million after losing an arm and a leg in a subway accident in Brooklyn. The accident occurred in 2016 when Da Silva, then 21, fainted and fell onto the tracks at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station, where a train struck her. The jury found the Metropolitan Transportation Authority negligent for not installing platform safety barriers despite having data on such incidents for over 15 years.
Da Silva’s lawsuit argued that the MTA was aware of the risks and had been offered no-cost proposals to install platform doors as early as 2011, but did not act on them. Her lawyer, David Roth, stated, “The failure to act in the face of a known, preventable hazard is the definition of negligence.” The MTA has appealed the verdict, maintaining that installing platform doors is not feasible at most stations due to technical and economic reasons…