A woman was awarded a $35 million payout in a lawsuit over a glass door collapse that left her with a brain injury that permanently changed her life.
A New York jury on Tuesday sided with 36-year-old Meghan Brown, a former JP Morgan employee, following a three-week trial.
The verdict comes nearly a decade after the February 2015 incident at the building located at 271 Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
Surveillance footage captured the moment Ms. Brown left an appointment in the building and walked toward two glass doors to exit the building to the street. She appeared to lean into one of the glass doors with her left shoulder to open it. At the same time, the man who walked behind her pushed the center of the glass door with a cell phone in his hand. The glass then suddenly burst into small pieces and shattered into pieces on top of Ms. Brown. The video showed that she stumbled and fell forward before witnesses came to her aid.
Ms. Brown claimed negligence in the lawsuit against the landlord who owned the building and argued she was injured due to “fractures and/or weaknesses in the glass” door and that it was not properly installed and maintained.
Her legal team argued that the building had a history of poor maintenance, specifically citing two cases in 2010 and 2014.
A Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Rutgers University testified that he believed the glass had a “subcritical flaw” that existed for days, if not weeks, prior to the incident. However, the trial also included testimony from the building superintendent, who said he did not recall any specific issues with the doors and never saw any cracks or imperfections.
Lawyers for the landlord claimed that the building was reasonably safe, there were no flaws in the door, and no history of poor maintenance. Instead, they argued that it was a freak accident caused by a “perfect storm” of events.
“It was cold out and warm in. And the force on the glass was more than it could handle,” attorney Thomas Sofield told the jury.
They also claimed that her testimony was inconsistent, that she was lying about the extent of her injuries, and that she only suffered a cut to her hand that needed stitches.
However, Ms. Brown claimed that she suffers from traumatic brain injury, backaches, headaches, sensitivity to light, loss of depth perfection, vertigo, and balance issues. The injuries had a negative impact on her professional career and personal life, according to Ms. Brown.
She was eventually fired from her job at JP Morgan, which ended her investment banking career. Additionally, she found it difficult to maintain romantic relationships and testified that she was engaged to be married, but the man broke it off due to her inability to lead a normal life.
After three days of deliberations, a New York jury ordered the building’s owner to pay $35,184,208 in damages.
Ms. Brown now resides in Naples, Florida, and runs a small gelato business.
