Massachusetts Personal Injury Awards From the MBTA May Be Capped

Here’s some bad news. If you’ve been injured in a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) accident, due to a bus and trolley crash, slip and fall, escalator mishap, or other accident, and you file a lawsuit against the transit agency, you may soon find that your damage awards may be capped at $100,000.

That’s because the “T” wants to limit its personal injury awards to the same cap of $100,000 that is imposed on similar judgments against other state agencies, towns, and cities. The damages would be capped if a bill, which is now before the Massachusetts Legislature, passes.

This proposed tort reform bill would assure that the T’s liability would be identical to anyone who, say, happened to sue the city of Boston due to getting hit by one of its police cars, for example. If this tort reform measure goes is passed into law, the cash-strapped transit agency claims it would save about $4 million annually. As a Boston MBTA accident lawyer, I highly doubt this claim. This agency, as anyone can see from its current and persistent budget woes, has never managed well any monies it has ever been given.

As readers of this blog know all too well, I am always bothered by these attempts at “tort reform.” These artificial limits do nothing but punish people – plaintiffs — who have been subjected to personal injuries, emotional trauma and economic harm, due to the negligence of other people and businesses. Plaintiffs deserve to be compensated fairly and justly for their pain and suffering, and tort reform seeks to do away with all of that.

We have successfully handled many MBTA injury cases. We know how to successfully litigate these cases – and understand how devastating the impact these Massachusetts MBTA accidents can have. Our Boston, Massachusetts personal injury attorneys are dedicated to make sure that compensation that plaintiffs receive is maximized, and received as quickly and as efficiently as possible.