ATLANTA (Legal Newsline) - The Atlanta transportation authority isn’t responsible for the injuries of a man who fell as one of its trains was leaving the station, a Georgia appeals court ruled, reversing a trial judge’s decision that would have allowed a jury to hear the case.
Applying the reasoning from a 1920 streetcar case for the first time to modern rapid-transit systems, the Georgia Court of Appeals said it would impose “a totally impracticable burden” on train operators to ensure every passenger is seated before leaving the station.
Norman Brown sued the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, after he boarded a train at the Georgia State station and fell down as the train began rolling. Brown said he used a walker because he couldn’t “stand that good” and fell and hit his head when “all of the sudden the train pulled off fast now.” He rode around on the train for another few hours before “some people got him off the train and a MARTA bus driver called MARTA police.”
A trial judge refused to dismiss the case, ruling there was a fact question as to whether MARTA had violated its duty to exercise “extraordinary diligence” as required by common carriers under state law.
The appeals court reversed that ruling and dismissed the case in a Dec. 6 decision, however, saying MARTA had presented enough evidence to show the train operated normally and MARTA had no duty to ensure Brown was seated before the train began moving.
Under Georgia law, the appeals court said, plaintiffs must show that the train’s movement was “sudden and violent” and that it was “was unusual and unnecessary at that time and place.” While passenger trains also have a duty to wait until passengers have a chance to sit down, that doesn’t apply to rapid-transit systems like MARTA, the appeals court ruled. It cited cases going back to 1920 where judges observed “it [is] a matter of universal knowledge that a passenger entering upon a street-car must anticipate the prompt starting of the car just as soon as he has gained a safe entrance.”
Waiting until every passenger has reached a seat “imposes a totally impracticable burden, and, as a matter of general and common knowledge, would have the effect of paralyzing the practical and efficient operation of every street car,” the appeals court said, citing an earlier decision.
“Because a MARTA train is akin to a street car, MARTA had no duty to give passengers a reasonable time to find a seat before departing the station,” the court ruled. “Brown has no evidence to support that MARTA breached its duty other than his opinion — based on pure conjecture and speculation — that the train took off quickly and he fell, but this is not enough to prove that MARTA violated its statutory duty.”