ATLANTA (Legal Newsline) - The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority is paying $17 million to a widow whose husband died while working to install a cellular wireless system in its stations and tunnels.
Lawyers at The Champion Firm say MARTA first argued Robert Smith was partly at fault for his death. MARTA quickly filed a third-party complaint against Insite Wireless and Cleveland Electric Company (Smith's employer) after Michelle Smith filed suit in 2018.
Eventually, MARTA accepted 100% responsibility for the death but pivoted to claiming the only recovery available would be under the Workers' Compensation system. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson rejected that argument in June 2021.
Rather than go through a trial, MARTA agreed this month to settle the case.
In August 2019, the National Transportation Safety Board determined Smith's death was the result of human error. A MARTA train struck a vehicle he had been operating, and the NTSB said a fellow employee failed to follow numerous safety procedures and also blamed the driver of the train.
The train hit Smith's vehicle at 22 mph, propelling it into Smith. A flagger assigned to the area had failed to obtain proper authorization for Smith to work outside a restricted area and failed to keep a lookout for trains.