COA rules for defendants in wheelchair ramp injury.

Byline: eric.berkman

A Michigan Court of Appeals panel affirmed the Ingham Circuit Court's summary disposition for the defendants in a negligence case against a metro Lansing transit authority.

In Estate of McCoy v. CATA (MiLW No. 08-101531, 10 pages), the plaintiff filed suit on behalf of her mother, Ruth McCoy, who was hurt when she fell from the wheelchair ramp of a shuttle bus.

The plaintiff claimed the driver, defendant Jose Pizana, was grossly negligent in failing to lock the brakes on McCoy's wheelchair. The COA determined, however, that the plaintiff did not sufficiently show Pizana's alleged actions factually caused the harm.

"Although plaintiff contends that Pizana's testimony that he locked the wheelchair brakes was merely self-serving, there is no evidence to contradict this assertion," the COA stated, noting that while a safety consultant opined in an affidavit that Pizana was at fault, he provided no foundation for his opinion. "Therefore ... [the] plaintiff's theory of the case was premised on speculation or conjecture."

Judges Stephen L. Borrello, Kirsten Frank Kelly and Deborah A. Servitto ruled unanimously in the unpublished opinion.

Plaintiff's counsel Sima G. Patel of Fieger Law in Southfield declined comment other than to say they are considering seeking further review in the Michigan Supreme Court. Defense counsel Carol A. Smith could not be reached for comment.

The case

McCoy, an elderly woman struggling with blood-sugar issues and a difficult recovery from a broken leg, moved into a nursing home in 2011.

She was originally using a wheelchair prescribed for her, but after she gained more weight, the nursing home gave her a different one.

On Nov. 20, 2016, a Capital Area Transportation Authority shuttle bus, specially equipped to transport passengers in wheelchairs, arrived at McCoy's church to pick her up and return to the nursing home. Pizana was the driver.

The procedure for transporting passengers in wheelchairs involved lowering a ramp, rolling the wheelchair onto the ramp, locking its wheels by applying the brakes and placing a safety belt across the ramp. Then the driver would raise the ramp, place the wheelchair in the bus and strap the wheelchair to the floor.

According to McCoy's daughter, plaintiff Helen Graham, Pizana who was a driver unfamiliar to her and her mother displayed an "attitude" upon arrival and she had to admonish him to lock the brakes on McCoy's wheelchair.

Pizana denied having an "attitude"...