(The Associated Press circulated the following on July 28.)
HACKENSACK, N.J. — A Hackensack jury has found that NJ Transit must pay $765,000 to a Passaic woman seriously injured when her car was hit by a commuter train at an Elmwood Park crossing.
Jurors agreed with Alexandra M. Lisowski’s claim that the train crossing had a dangerous layout, with an angled intersection.
Lisowski, 33, was in heavy rush-hour traffic in January 2004 at the crossing when she saw a commuter train bound for Suffern, N.Y., bearing down on her 1991 Acura Integra.
Lisowski tried to back her car of the tracks, but a wheel got stuck in a rut. Lisowski got out of the car, only to have the car hit her after the train hit the car.
She spent the next 10 days at Hackensack University Medical Center, and was in rehab for a few more months. Doctors had to place twin titanium rods in her spine to fix broken vertebra.
Despite the award to Lisowski, jurors did find her partly responsible for the accident.
NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said agency officials have met with officials from other state and local agencies to discuss possible changes to the intersection, but it could take months before there is a recommendation.