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Lost Leg Earns Woman Millions From the MTA
By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 18, 2011
Modified Feb 18, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 18, 2011
Modified Feb 18, 2011
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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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