NEWARK, N.J. — A rail passenger injured when she was struck by a steel rod hanging from a disabled train has been awarded $4.7 million by a jury in Hudson County, the Associated Press reported.
Okhee Lee filed a lawsuit against NJ Transit after she was severely injured on Nov. 20, 1998. The steel rod smashed through a window of the commuter train she was on and hit her in the face.
Lee’s attorney said NJ Transit employees who examined the disabled train should have noticed the hanging pantograph, a train car apparatus that connects to overhead electric power lines.
“All they had to do was take two steps to the other side of the train and they would have seen the pantograph hanging out over the track,” lawyer Andrew Calcagno told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Wednesday’s editions.
Calcagno said Lee was not able to resume her career as a neurology nurse due to the injuries. She also has short-term memory problems and lost her sense of smell and most of her sense of taste, he said.
The train on the Morris and Essex Line was disabled when equipment on the electrical wires broke, and the sagging lines became entangled in the pantograph.
The train stopped near Kearny Junction. The train Lee was on went by at 70 mph about 15 minutes later. The engineer followed safety regulations for passing a disabled train, but did not see the pantograph because it was dark, officials said.
The rod went through three windows, but Lee was the only passenger injured.
“The jury has spoken and we are reviewing the verdict,” NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said. “At this point we cannot make any determination.”
The jury decision on Tuesday awarded Lee $320,000 in lost wages since her injury; $915,000 for future lost wages; and $2.8 million for pain and suffering. In addition, her husband was awarded $675,000.