LANSING, Mich. (Legal Newsline) - An appeals court panel has upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by a woman in a wheelchair who was injured on a bus when the driver stopped suddenly at a yellow light.
A trial judge earlier ruled against the passenger, Nancy Riegel, who sued the Detroit-based Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court ruling March 24.
Riegel was thrown from her wheelchair when the bus driver, Valerie Hines, stopped at a yellow light. The appeals court noted that Riegel chose not to wear a seatbelt.
“While plaintiff certainly had a right to make that choice, making that choice comes with the consequences of doing so,” the appeals court said. “Plaintiff argues that the fact that she was ejected from her wheelchair establishes that the stop could not be made safely, and that Hines should have driven through the intersection."
The appeals court panel went on to call the driver’s action one of the “ordinary sudden stops to be expected of a bus.”
Riegel never disputed that her wheelchair was properly secured in the bus or that she declined the offer of a seatbelt, the appeals court said. "Rather, plaintiff argues that the driver, instead of stopping for the yellow light, should have proceeded through the light," the court wrote.
The driver was not injured, nor was Riegel’s caregiver, the appeals court noted. The trial judge, before dismissing the suit, said of the stop at the yellow light, "It was done. It was done safely. The only issue is maybe a little too quick for somebody in a wheelchair who decided on her own volition not to strap in."
Michigan law requires drivers to stop at yellow lights, the appeals court ruling said.
Riegel died while her appeal was pending but there is no indication her death was caused by the bus injuries, the appeals court said. After Riegel's death, her estate continued the appeal.
Michigan State Court of Appeals case number 2017-004282-NI