SCOTUS to consider NJ Transit’s liability in accidents

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether NJ Transit can be held responsible for accidents or if it has sovereign immunity from lawsuits as an arm of the state.

The nation’s top court agreed Thursday to hear arguments on two conflicting state rulings over NJ Transit’s liability in bus crashes that left two men injured.

In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court determined the transit agency is an arm of the state and consequently dismissed a lawsuit filed by Cedric Galette, who was a passenger in a car that collided with a NJ Transit bus in August 2018 in Philadelphia.

In New York, courts came to the opposite conclusion and found the agency operates independently from the state, so allowed a lawsuit over a Manhattan collision to proceed. In that case, Jeffrey Colt was injured after a NJ Transit bus hit him in February 2017.

Jim Smith, a NJ Transit spokesman, said the agency “appreciates the United States Supreme Court granting certiorari, and agreeing to consider this important issue to NJ TRANSIT and the State of New Jersey.”

A spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin declined to comment Thursday.

But Platkin filed a brief in April welcoming the U.S. Supreme Court’s review, calling the conflicting rulings an “untenable split in which New Jersey finds itself.”

“When an NJ Transit train leaves Morrisville, Pennsylvania, bound for New York City, its sovereign immunity toggles on and off at different points along the route,” Platkin’s brief says. “If NJ Transit is sued for conduct in Morrisville, in Pennsylvania state court, it enjoys sovereign immunity. But if NJ Transit faces suit for the same conduct in New York City, in New York state court, its sovereign status suddenly evaporates. Same public service, same day, same train — yet a different answer on the same state entity’s immunity.”

A ruling promises to have a huge financial impact on the state, whichever way it goes.

Public transit typically fuels the most lawsuits against the state, with officials paying out millions every year to resolve them.

Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists injured or killed in bus and rail accidents, as well as workers hurt, harassed, or discriminated against on the job.

Some have resulted in seven-figure payouts, or more.

The state paid $10 million in 2022 to end a lawsuit filed by Xuefang Zhong, a bus passenger who was retrieving her luggage from an under-carriage compartment when the bus drove away and dragged her with it in New York City. She was injured so severely she needed a leg amputation and multiple surgeries. The family of Siham Hajbi got almost $1.8 million in 2023 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit they filed after a NJ Transit bus turned a corner and hit Hajbi as she walked in a Haledon crosswalk.

Lawsuit payouts in 2021 included $2 million to a pedestrian, Kiliek Anthony, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after he was hit by a NJ Transit bus in December 2015 in Irvington, and $7.4 million in three separate settlements to people injured when an empty NJ Transit bus ran a red light in August 2016 and collided with another NJ Transit bus in Newark, killing the bus driver and a passenger and injuring a dozen other passengers.