Appeals Court Upholds $30+ Million Judgment Against Greyhound Lines

CLEVELAND, April 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ohio's Eighth District Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed the verdict of a Cuyahoga County jury that ordered bus company Greyhound Lines, Inc. to pay more than $27 million in compensatory and punitive damages to Mark Soberay, a Cleveland resident. Soberay was the most seriously injured survivor in 2013 when the driver of a Greyhound bus in which he was a passenger fell asleep while driving along a Pennsylvania highway, striking the rear of a tractor-trailer, killing a 37-year-old tourist from Vietnam, and injuring more than 40 other passengers.

Soberay, age 45 at the time of the accident, was asleep in a front passenger seat at about 1:30 a.m. when the bus smashed into the rear-end of the tractor-trailer, crushing his lower body. He lost his right leg and underwent more than 30 surgeries to repair a hole in his heart, torn muscles in his shoulder, and crushed bones in his foot, pelvis, and arm. The jury awarded him $23 million for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and other monetary losses, and also awarded just over $4 million in punitive damages.

Attorney Chuck Kampinski from Cleveland law firm McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman and co-counsel Kent Schneider represented Soberay during the original trial and throughout the appeals process.  According to Kampinski, the punitive damages resulted from the Court finding that Greyhound "demonstrated reckless indifference to the safety interest" of passengers by failing to enforce company safety rules intended to prevent driver fatigue. 

Greyhound's lawyers had argued that the bus driver did not fall asleep but, instead, suffered a mini-stroke and passed out just before the accident. They also claimed that, even if she had been awake and alert, she would not have been able to stop the bus in time to avoid the collision because the truck she hit was traveling too slowly, and she would not have been able to judge its speed until it was too late to stop. The jury rejected both of these contentions and found the driver and company negligent.

In addition to the jury's award of compensatory and punitive damages, the trial judge added nearly $1.6 million in prejudgment interest and attorney fees, finding that Greyhound had failed to make a good faith settlement offer and had engaged in delay and vexatious conduct during the pendency of the case.

Greyhound appealed the judgment, arguing that the trial court had committed legal errors that prejudiced its case. In the newly released 51-page decision, the Court of Appeals extensively reviewed the factual record and arguments of the parties and affirmed the lower court judgment in all respects. With the addition of post-judgment interest, the judgment presently stands in excess of $30 million.

"We're very gratified that the Court of Appeals saw fit to affirm the determinations of the jury and the trial court," said Kampinski.  "We hope this ruling by the Court of Appeals will serve as an incentive to Greyhound to enforce its safety rules to prevent similar occurrences in the future and avoid causing needless deaths and devastating injuries to its passengers."

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA is a full-service law firm located in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1959, McCarthy Lebit continues to evolve from its origins as a boutique tax and business firm. Today, our areas of practice include Banking & Finance, Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions, Creditors' Rights & Bankruptcy, Taxation, Insurance Coverage, Public Law, Intellectual Property, Real Estate & Construction, Sports & Media, Education, Family, Trusts & Estates, Employment, Defamation, Personal Injury & Wrongful Death, Criminal, Cyber & White Collar, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Litigation. Our firm offers personalized and responsive legal services for individuals, small and medium-sized businesses and larger corporations. To learn more, please visit www.mccarthylebit.com.  {00810457-1}

SOURCE McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA