Missouri's Supreme Court is pondering whether the St. Louis metro system is liable for much higher damages than other public entities.
Bi-State Development Agency, created decades ago in an interstate agreement between Missouri and Illinois, is appealing a decision by a lower court to reinstate a $1.9 million jury award for a plaintiff injured in an accident involving one its buses.
Following a 2018 trial, a judge reduced the award to just over $400,000 in line with the state's cap on damages that can be paid by public entities.
But the plaintiff, Mary Moore, argued that provisions in the the agency's charter state that the Metro must abide by federal rules, including a level of financial responsibility far higher than it allowed under state immunity laws.
Moore suffered back injuries in 2013 when a Metro Call-A-Ride bus hit the school bus she was driving.
Under a rule laid down by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, buses carrying 16 or more passengers must have enough insurance to cover judgments up to $5 million. Reference is made to this in legislation enacted by Missouri in relation to Bi-State.
The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District, reversing the lower court's decision to reduce damages, said the federal regulations were more specific and must be followed.
Therefore, the federal rule "governs the amount of damages Moore may be awarded against Bi-State in her personal injury action based upon Bi-State’s negligent operation of its Call-A-Ride bus."
Michael Gross, an appellate attorney for the plaintiff, argued that enforcing the cap in Bi-State’s favor was an exercise in “judicial activism," according to a report in Missouri Lawyers Media.
The attorney further argued that the "separate statute that applies specifically to Bi-State requires it to comply with federal safety rules and regulations as a condition of receiving state funding."
An attorney for Bi-State argued that the provisions in the Missouri state are too vague to over ride the immunity enjoyed by the public entity.
While the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers was unable to provide comment to the St. Louis Record as members represent Bi-State, the organizaion filed an amicus brief on behalf of the defendant.
Jim Layton, of Tueth Keeny Cooper Mohan Jackstadt, said that any immunity waiver “should be clear enough that trustees of the smallest town or village, the commissioners of the smallest county and the board members of the smallest school district are on notice” of the change, according to the report in Missouri Lawyers Media.