Lost Leg Earns Woman Millions From the MTA

(via she said unprintable things' flickr)

In November 2005 Gloria Aguilar was crossing West 50th Street at 10th Avenue when she was struck down by a city bus. Afterwards EMS took her to Bellevue where doctors amputated her leg at the knee. Leading Aguilar, a mother of three, to do what we suspect anyone who lost a leg to a city bus would do: she sued. And she won. Big. In 2009 Aguilar was awarded $27.5 million for her troubles, "the largest ever for a lost leg." The number didn't quite stick, however. This week an appellate court decided that Aguilar's payout was inflated due to a clerical error on the verdict sheet and reduced it to a mere $17 million and change.

That number breaks down to $6.9 million for future medical expenses (she's already undergone 10 surgeries and her prosthesis has been a recurring source of trouble), $10 million for pain and suffering and a half-million for past loss of services.

The 46-year-old Aguilar, who the city tried to blame for the accident before a jury, now moves around in a wheelchair. And the driver? He "was demoted to a non-driving position for two years by an arbitrator, but given the right to apply for reinstatement."

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By Garth Johnston in News on February 18, 2011 12:48 PM

Comments [rss]

whatidsay

A $10 million clerical error? Was that person demoted as well? Small wonder the citys going broke.

ohgodkillmenow

That's an awful lot of money, but would I give up my leg for a few million bucks? Probably not...

virgilstarkwell

i have no issue with her getting millions - but the fact that some scumbag lawyer who fell assbackwards into this case is going to skate off with $5.6 million makes me want to puke.

Len_Drexler

i have no issue with her getting millions

I do. There is no realistic method of assigning that value to a leg. Keep in mind that most of the surviving families of the 9/11 victims settled for a few million.

farleft

I have an uncle who is an amputee...I assure you, it's a nonstop, lifelong struggle. It takes a loooong time to adjust to being an amputee. It affects everything: career (and therefore income), mobility, physical ability, sex life, depression, often lifelong pain...etc. I guarantee you if I asked him if he had a choice between having his leg versus $17million, he'd pick his leg without hesitation.

Kojak

You can. Based on how old the victim is, future income potential if the accident did not happen, and so on. But Punitive Damages + Pain and Suffering is something else. They used the same math during 9/11 when handing out the settlement.

Len_Drexler

Future income was accounted for ($500,000) as was future medical bills. So that leaves us with the pain and suffering and there is no formula for that. After reading some of the linked stories I will back off my earlier statement a little. Apparently Aguilar can't use her other leg and I assume never will. There was a story on Gothamist last year about an 80 year old woman was clipped by a bus in Brooklyn and she got $10 million. She didn't lose a limb. She had some broken bones and was in the hospital and rehab for some time but she can still walk although she requires a cane. By that standard Aguilar was under compensated.

My problem is that when you're around enough civil lawsuits you notice a pattern. Everyone claims post-traumatic stress. Everyone (almost) claims loss of consortium. Juries don't bother to distinguish who is really suffering from who is embellishing.