A city woman who claims she was injured after being tossed around the inside of a mass transit bus is suing the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
Philadelphia attorney Allan J. Aigeldinger, of the Law Offices of Craig A. Altman, filed the personal injury lawsuit July 11 at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Philadelphia resident Bobbi Morris.
According to the complaint, Morris was riding the Route 21 SEPTA bus on July 14, 2009, at about 9:15 in the morning, when the driver, who was traveling eastbound on Chestnut Street near 36th Street, “suddenly and without warning, violently and forcefully collided with an unknown object and/or defect” in the street.
The accident caused Morris to be “violently and forcefully thrown against the interior of the bus,” sustaining lumbar and shoulder injuries, as well as “excruciating physical pain and emotional anguish and a severe shock to her entire nervous system and other secondary problems and complications, the full extent of which are not yet known, some or all of which may be permanent in nature,” the lawsuit states.
As a result of the accident, Morris has had to spend various sums of money on hospitalization and medical and rehabilitative care, the suit states. She has also suffered a loss of earnings since she has been unable to work due to her injuries.
The lawsuit accuses SEPTA of carelessness and recklessness for failing to maintain safe control of the bus involved in the accident, for operating at “high and excessive rates of speed under the circumstances,” and for failing to keep a safe distance from an unknown object in the roadway.
Morris demands judgment in her favor against the defendant in a sum not in excess of $50,000, together with related court costs.
The non-jury case has been scheduled for a March 14, 2012 arbitration hearing.
The case number is 110700881.
SEPTA sued over bus accident
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