Conductor awarded millions for injuries after JUTC driver hits pothole

THE SUPREME Court has ruled that the stateowned bus entity Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) should pay more than J$18 million to former conductor Joy Murray for injuries suffered on the job in 2002.

Murray’s lawyer, Andrea Walter-Isaacs, told the court that her client was assigned to collect fares on a Tourino motor bus driven along Half-Way Tree Road by Christopher Morris on the morning of December 31, 2002, when it turned on to Balmoral Avenue and then Skibo Avenue at high speed.

The court heard that the vehicle plunged into one of several potholes that riddled the roadway, causing Murray to be thrown from her seat. She sustained the injuries as result of the impact.

The claimant contended that she sustained injuries to her spine, back, and legs, which adversely affected her ability to work.

However, defence lawyer Sue-Ann Williams, instructed by Lightbourne & Hamilton, argued that one of the expert witnesses, Dr Warren Blake, had made it clear that that the“whole-person disability” suffered was not entirely caused by the accident, pointing out that degenerative changes were age-related and would have existed prior to any injury sustained.

Murray had sought damages for pain and suffering, as well as loss of amenities, and outlined a range of treatments she had undergone over the years. Those interventions included physiotherapy, steroid injections, and surgery. As a result of the ongoing pain she has experienced since being injured, the former conductress has been unable to seek or obtain employment.

DRIVER NEGLIGENT

The judge, in handing down her ruling, noted that it was the general consensus of at least four medical specialists who examined and treated the claimant that she suffered a very serious and traumatic injury, the effects of which were entirely in keeping with her complaints about severe pain.

“It is also significant that although she was able to have surgery, the pain returned and severely impacted her ability to work. The impact of her injury on her ability to work was well known by the defendants, as she was assigned less strenuous duties and rostered for fewer days,”the judge noted.

She rejected the explanation from the driver and found that he had, in fact, neglected his duty of care and was negligent in his operation of the bus.

The court awarded Murray $6 million for pain, suffering, and loss of amenities (with interest at three per cent per annum; handicap on the labour market of $2 million (with no interest); future medical care of J$140,000 and US$43,500; and special damages of J$140,000 with interest from December 31, 2002.

The case was heard on September 16, 2021, and the judgment handed down on November 4.