In a case where a biker and a bus crashed, the jury found in favor of the cyclist and awarded damages. The New York jury awarded more than $9 million to the plaintiff bicycle rider who sustained severe injuries of her left arm when she collided with a bus. The award would have exceeded $15 million, but the jury assigned 40 percent of the fault to the bicyclist, thus reducing damages by 40 percent, to $9,078,184.09. The liability apportionment reflected the he-said, she-said nature of the trial, in which the bicyclist and the bus’s driver each claimed that the other wandered out of her lane and caused the collision.

The plaintiff sustained fractures and extensive degloving of her left arm. The injuries to the plaintiff in Radeva v. NYC Transit Authority necessitated four surgeries. As is the case in so many verdicts we are sent, this lawsuit would have likely resulted in a verdict in favor of the Bus and Transit Authority, as the injured plaintiff was 40% at fault. Under Virginia law, this fault on the part of the Plaintiff, if a cause of the bicycle and bus crash, would have likely caused a judge or jury to find against the cyclist, despite her permanent injuries and scarring.