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Jury awards Olean woman $4.5 million By RICK MILLER, The Times Herald 12/22/2005 LITTLE VALLEY — A state Supreme Court jury returned a $4.5 million verdict Tuesday for an Olean woman who lost a leg after a 2003 accident involving an Olean Area Transportation Service (OATS) bus. Shirley Bridges, 72, of Aspen Towers, was in an unsecured wheelchair in the OATS bus Oct. 31, 2003, when the bus driver stopped abruptly, causing Mrs. Bridges to be thrown to the floor and breaking her leg. Due to complications, she later had to have the leg amputated, her lawyer, Francis Letro of Buffalo, said Wednesday. Mrs. Bridges, a retired nurse anesthetist, used a wheelchair because she had lost a leg to diabetes in 2000. The OATS bus, operated at the time by Ellicottville Transportation Co., had equipment to secure the wheelchair, required under provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act, but it was not used by the company, Mr. Letro said Wednesday. The award was against national Interstate Insurance Co. of Richfield, Ohio, the insurance company for Ellicottville Transportation Co. “They (Ellicottville Transportation Co.) never secured her wheelchair,” said Mr. Letro. Witnesses testified the company’s policy was they did not offer to secure wheelchairs, although they would do so upon request, he said. But he pointed out there was no way Mrs. Bridges could have secured herself. She had ridden the OATS bus for two years without her wheelchair being secured, he said. The incident occurred at the West State Street and 24th Street, at the entrance to Tops Markets. The driver of the OATS bus, Bonnie Weishan of Salamanca, said she hit the brakes to avoid colliding with a pickup truck that was on 24th Street turning left. She testified that since she was going straight across the intersection she thought she had the right of way. The four-woman, six-man jury deliberated for just under three hours Tuesday before returning a verdict in the two-week trial in front of State Supreme Court Judge Paula L. Feroleto. Buffalo attorney Laurence Behr, who represented Ellicottville Transportation Co., did not return a telephone message left at his office Wednesday. Mr. Letro presented expert witnesses who said it is uncommon for transportation companies not to secure people in wheelchairs, and that the pickup truck Ms. Weishan said violated the right of way, forcing the quick stop, couldn’t still have been in the intersection at the time. Witnesses’ testimony showed “The vehicles were not on a collision course,” Mr. Letro said. “They were never going to collide.” The attorney likened the incident to “road rage,” noting the driver said motorists often cut in front of her. Mr. Letro said the contract Ellicottville Transportation Co. had with Cattaraugus County specified that, “The vehicle will be wheelchair compliant in accordance with the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act.” He said, “Our claim was they did not comply because they did not secure her chair. This was public transportation and public safety. They blamed the lady for bringing the wheelchair on the bus.” The jury granted Mrs. Bridges, the widow of former Olean Police Officer Rocky Bridges, $1 million for past pain and suffering, Mr. Letro said. She was also awarded $3.5 million over the next 10 years from the date of the verdict plus medical expenses of $75,000, he said.
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