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Woman hit by collapsing, forgotten biowarfare sensor at Harvard station to sue
By adamg on Wed, 05/10/2023 - 11:12am
Boston.com reports the Harvard PhD student who suffered a detached collarbone when hit by rigging for a biowarfare sensor installed for a test in 2012 and then forgotten about plans to sue the MBTA for negligence.
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Comments
we knew this was going to happen
So lots of money paying lawyers and to this person that could have been used to FIX things. Gotta love the T.
But to me, arm chair lawyer, says there's two parties at fault here. The MBTA and the DHS. The DHS should have had a plan to come and take the boxes down. I dont necessarily feel like it was the T's job to take it down, and the DHS is just as much at fault here.
I blame the MBTA
Unless they have a record of calling DHS and asking them to come and get their things. If the T mounted the thing, they should have taken it down or at least followed up.
No doubt plenty of T maintenance people have looked at that box over the years and thought, "Not on my plans, not my problem" and kept their mouth shut least they get stuck with a project they didn't want.
Yeah that argument works
When you dislike the T.
But DHS is held responsible too. Shouldn't their team contact these transit agencies that had these boxes and have them removed. The funds were paid for DHS, so why should the MBTA and its staff have to remove them? Cost them time and man power to do so. Costs that were not budgeted for or accounted for.
Yes maybe they should have called and kept track but the fault also can fall onto the DHS. What did the contract between the DHS and the MBTA say about when the removal of said boxes? There should be a clause in there about that. So who's responsible. I guarantee that this will come out in the discovery of this lawsuit.
But please keep kicking that punching bag known as the mbta because it feels good and they are an easy target.
"lots of money"
Don't assume. People often sue just to recover expenses and to get a situation rectified.
Sometimes insurance companies even require it, no?
I'm also thinking of how in the famous McDonald's hot coffee case, the woman had tried to settle for just enough to cover medical expenses, but McDonald's refused -- and the jury ended up awarding a much higher amount when it was revealed how blatantly negligent McDonald's had been.
It was obviously going to
It was obviously going to happen and I think they'd have to dig up the contracts from a decade ago and determine who was responsible for the removal of the equipment. I'd hazard a guess that the DHS probably should be responsible but in no way does that absolve the MBTA for not noticing.