'It Was His Fault'

When Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) bus driver Dawan Winbush "misjudged the clearing while turning left off of Browns Mill Road onto Hamilton Boulevard" in June 2019, he "struck the front left side" of plaintiff Qiana Duncan's vehicle, per the amended plaintiff complaint drafted by Rafi.

"My client was stopped at a stop sign, waiting for the MARTA bus to make a left turn in front of her," Rafi said. "After the impact, the MARTA bus driver did the right thing—he pulled over, checked on my client and her passengers, called 911, and importantly, told police it was his fault."

But a year later, Rafi said MARTA denied sole responsibility for the collision. Rather than settle the case, "MARTA claimed it needed time to investigate," according to plaintiff counsel. More than three years after the incident, the case proceeded to trial on March 13.

'The Biggest Hurdle'

Jerry W. Baxter, Senior Judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit. Courtesy photo

Gathered before Senior Judge Jerry W. Baxter, plaintiff counsel attempted to convince the jury that even though co-defendant Winbush "did the right thing and was honest, MARTA, the entity, did not."

Plaintiff counsel focused the jury's attention on video of the collision captured by the bus' internal feed to support their stance, but Rafi noted the footage also created a challenge for his team.

"The biggest hurdle we had to overcome was the impact did not appear to be particularly forceful," he said. "In these situations, I think it comes down to credibility—is the testimony of the injured person and their doctors reliable compared to the defense evidence? Here, our client was believable and her injuries were supported by objective medical test results and the testimony of her orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist."

Rafi said the plaintiff endured knee and wrist injuries, as well as an arthroscopic foot surgery as a result of the collision, but defense counsel for MARTA challenged the severity of the injuries.

"Surprisingly, MARTA went from telling the jury it was a $50,000 case in opening to asking for a defense verdict during closing," Rafi said.

'There Were Latent Defects'

(l-r) Cameron D. Hawkins, Mia Fulks and Ananya Roy, of the Law Office of Cameron Hawkins LLC in Atlanta, GA. Courtesy photos

Cameron D. Hawkins, Mia Fulks and Ananya Roy of the Law Office of Cameron Hawkins LLC in Atlanta represented MARTA in the matter. Hawkins said defense counsel admitted that the city bus made contact with the plaintiff's vehicle, but disputed that her injuries resulted from the low-impact collision.

"We had evidence in the medical record that suggested that she had pre-existing issues and congenital defect issues with her ankle," Hawkins said. "By her surgeon's own admission, there were latent defects in the ankle."

Hawkins said defense counsel further questioned the causation of the need for Duncan's surgery after learning of "prior collisions that the plaintiff did not disclose." He said evidence contained in medical records and impeachment testimony suggested previous vehicle collisions "were the reason why her ankle was bad and needed surgery."

"One of the previous accidents that she was involved in required the jaws of life to remove her from the vehicle," Hawkins said. "If there was an impact significant enough to require the jaws of life, I thought it was curious that she wouldn't disclose that to us."

Crash Victim Job Ad

With the severity of their client's injuries questioned, plaintiff counsel said it opted to use a per diem to illustrate the million-dollar value of their client's permanent injuries.

"We presented a job ad that we created for the 'job' of being a crash victim and told the jury they should figure out how much that 'job' was worth," Rafi said. "One calculation I presented was $5 per hour for 16 waking hours for 39 years, and the jury was a hair below that."

Read The Job Ad

After two days of trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict awarding the plaintiff $1.1 million in damages and $93,075 for attorney's fees and litigation expenses

"The total amount of the judgment owed by Defendants Dawan Winbush, Individually, and Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority to Plaintiff Qiana Duncan is $1,215,575.00," read the judgment ordered by Baxter on March 16. "The Plaintiff shall have judgment for those amounts plus post judgment interest at the lawful rate and costs of court."

'They Upped The Award'

While plaintiff counsel applauded the outcome, defense counsel sought post-trial clarity from the jurors about their decision.

"The award was higher than we expected, given the nature of the medical [expenses] and given the nature of the impact," Hawkins said.

Upon concluding the trial, he said jurors informed him they chose to "award a little more money to cover attorney's fees" because "they knew the plaintiff attorney [was] going to get a certain percentage."

"They upped the award, so it wasn't just based on what they thought it was worth, or what they thought would compensate the plaintiff," Hawkins said. "They also added a little extra in there because they know attorneys are going to take a fee."