Compton Woman Gets $17M Judgment Against MTA For Wrongful Death Of Blind Son
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The mother of a blind Compton man who was killed when he mistook a gap between Metro Blue Line trains for a door was awarded $17 million Friday in her wrongful death lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Mary Cuthberton's 48-year-old son died in 2009 after he had stepped between the rail cars, and she says the lack of barriers on the train platform was to blame.
"The MTA has a debt to this family, and we're here to get that debt paid," Cuthbertson's attorney, Brian Panish, told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury in his closing argument.
Metro attorney James Reiss maintained during the trial that the transit agency was not bound by a federal Americans With Disabilities Act section enacted shortly after the Blue Line began operating in 1990, which would have required it to put chains, fencing or other obstacles between cars to keep the blind from mistaking the openings for doors.
He also contended Cameron Cuthbertson contributed to his death by not properly using his cane to guide himself.
The accident occurred about 9 a.m. Jan. 28, 2009, as Cameron Cuthbertson was preparing to board a southbound Blue Line train at the Del Amo Station.
According to Panish, the MTA installed bollards on Blue Line platforms the day after Cuthbertson's death so that when trains stop, the openings between cars are lined with them. Panish said the corrective action came 19 years too late for Cuthbertson.
"Cameron is killed, and all of a sudden something is done," Panish said. Panish argued that the MTA discriminated against visually impaired riders of the Blue Line at the time because its Gold, Green and Red lines all had some form of barrier between cars, whether they were simple chains like those placed between Red Line cars or more solid obstacles such as those used on the Gold Line.
Cameron Cuthbertson lost his sight in his 20s from glaucoma and lived with his mother all his life, Panish said.
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