A Brazilian tourist, Luisa Janssen Harger Da Silva, was awarded almost $82 million in a Brooklyn federal court after her left arm and leg were torn off by a subway train. The tragedy happened in 2016 when, at 21, she was standing on a platform with her boyfriend, fainted, and fell onto the Atlantic Avenue tracks. A train hit her as she lay helpless.
Nearly a decade later, her legal team convinced a jury that the MTA failed to treat the danger of people falling onto tracks as a serious issue. They pointed to fifteen years of data showing that “it was a moral certainty that innocent people, such as the plaintiff, would fall onto the tracks if the Authorities did not take steps to install platform edge safety devices.” One of the lawyers, David Roth, called this lack of action “negligence.”
The MTA has appealed, claiming it disagrees with the verdict. A representative, Tim Minton, said the agency had studied proposals for free platform doors since 2011, which would allow revenue from advertising on the structures. He noted that many major companies offered detailed plans, and one proposal from Faiveley Transport was described by the MTA as “impressive” because of its thorough technical analysis. Despite this, the agency never followed up on those studies, according to lawyer Bob Genis.
Minton also pointed out that the MTA had installed barriers at 109 stations and that many stations would not be suitable for full‑length doors because of physical and accessibility constraints. He added that the cost of litigation from train‑strike injuries had averaged $7 million a year in the previous five years, as revealed in emails related to a 2021 lawsuit.
In 2023, train strikes rose to 241 incidents, per MTA data reported by THE CITY. This case is one of several that underscore the urgent need for better platform safety measures.
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