Results

$1,300,000 • Roadway Design and Defect

A passenger in a car was left seriously injured after the car left the roadway and plunged down a 200-foot embankment and hit a bicycle path, causing the driver to be thrown from the car and killed. The car then tumbled another 100 feet before coming to rest in a marsh at the bottom of the cliff. The passenger was miraculously rescued the following morning after a harrowing night at the base of the cliff.

MD&L sued the State of New York, arguing that the roadway design was defective due to the absence of a guard rail to prevent the car from plunging down the steep embankment. Cable guard railing was present near the accident location and was installed in 1946 pursuant to a state authorized plan. Nevertheless, the state's engineers had elected not to install a guard rail at the precise location where the car left the roadway.

Under NY law the State of New York is generally immune from liability for its highway planning decisions. Through extensive investigation and research, however, MD&L was able to successfully maintain that the state violated an early standard issued in 1940 by a nationally recognized organization on roadway design and safety.