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Jury Awards $2.9 Million to 2005 Park Slope Bus Crash Victim

By Leslie Albrecht | June 24, 2016 2:28pm | Updated on June 27, 2016 8:27am
 A Brooklyn jury awarded $2.9 million for pain, suffering, lost earnings and future medical care to a woman injured in a 2005 bus crash.
A Brooklyn jury awarded $2.9 million for pain, suffering, lost earnings and future medical care to a woman injured in a 2005 bus crash.
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PARK SLOPE — A Brooklyn jury has awarded $2.9 million to a woman who was badly hurt in 2005 when she was a passenger on an MTA bus that hit a car making an illegal U-turn on Fifth Avenue.

Jurors awarded the money to Evelis Guevara, 31, on June 17 after finding that an MTA bus driver was 95 percent liable for Guevara's injuries. The driver whose car collided with the bus was found 5 percent liable.

Guevara, who can't work and uses a cane as a result of her injuries, received an award of $1.7 million for future medical care and $1 million for lost earnings. For her pain and suffering, she was awarded $252,000 — a "grossly inadequate" amount, said her attorney, Peter Traub.

"She should be compensated for how it’s affected her life," Traub said. "These cases are called personal injury and everyone focuses on the injury, but it’s about the person."

Guevara was 20 at the time of the crash, which happened on the evening of Nov. 10, 2005 at Fifth Avenue and Second Street. A B63 bus was heading southbound on Fifth Avenue when an Acura driver slowed down in front of the bus to make an illegal U-turn. The bus driver slammed on the brakes, sending passengers flying out their seats, Traub said. Seven passengers were injured in the crash.

The bus driver contended the Acura driver was double-parked in the Fifth Avenue bike lane and raced past the bus and cut it off to make the U-turn, then crashed into the stationary bus. Traub argued in court that that scenario "wasn't mathematically possible."

The Acura driver claimed the bus was in her lane and illegally crossed the double yellow line to get around her as she slowed to make the U-turn.

When the Acura and the bus collided, Guevara was sitting with a friend's baby in her lap. She twisted her body to protect the child and slammed into the seat in front of her, Traub said.

Her injuries included a torn rotator cuff and herniated disks in her neck and in her lower spine. She's had multiple surgeries since the crash, including one to fuse four vertebrae together with metal rods, Traub said.

Guevara is now "pretty much housebound" and needs help for basic daily tasks including using the bathroom, Traub said.

"What does she have to look forward to?" Traub said. "[The crash] took away all those things in life we take for granted. She can't go to a museum, she can't take a walk in the park. She’s only 31 and she’ll be on morphine for the rest of her life."

Traub said he plans to file a post-trial motion to increase the award for pain and suffering.

The MTA declined to comment on the verdict in the case, which was first reported by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The transit agency will most likely appeal the award, Traub said.