New Trial Ordered in Subway Gap Case

In Noreen Stallings-Wiggins v. New York City Transit Authority, NY Slip Op 07774 (decided on November 14, 2018), a personal injury case arising from a subway gap, the Appellate Division, Second Department, granted the defendant New York City Transit Authority's motion to set aside a jury verdict on the issue of liability as contrary to the weight of the evidence and for a new trial.  The case arose on November 23, 2009, between approximately 8:15 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., when the plaintiff allegedly was injured while attempting to board a train at a subway station in Brooklyn, and after she stepped into a gap between the train and the station platform.  After the completion of the discovery process, and following a trial regarding the incident, a Kings County jury found that the defendant New York City Transit Authority was negligent, that its negligence was a substantial factor in causing the accident, and that the injured plaintiff was not negligent.  The defendant, thereafter, moved  pursuant to CPLR 4404(a) to set aside the jury verdict on the issue of liability as contrary to the weight of the evidence and for a new trial.  The Supreme Court denied the motion, and the defendant thereafter appealed.

The Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed the trial court's denial of defendant's motion, thereby granting defendant's request for a new trial, holding, among other things, the following: "The jury's finding that the NYCTA [defendant] was solely at fault for the accident was contrary to the weight of the evidence.  The evidence at trial demonstrated that, just prior to the accident, the injured plaintiff had exited the B train and stepped over the subject gap, without incident, onto the plaintiff of the Prospect Park station.  She then stepped into that same gap while attempting to reenter the train moments later.  Additionally, the injured plaintiff had used the Prospect Park station on several occasions.  She testified that, for approximately one year, she had been taking the B train to the Prospect Park station where she would transfer to the shuttle train if it was at the station when she arrived.  Under the circumstances, the jury's verdict on the issue of liability completely absolving the injured plaintiff of comparative fault was not supported by a fair interpretation of the evidence [citing McDonald v. Long Is. R.R., 77AD3d 712]."

Salvatore R. Marino, Esq.