Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is crediting new cameras on its vehicles for dramatically reducing its lawsuit payouts. It claims these videos have produced $26 million in unbudgeted savings.
This video evidence undoubtedly refutes bogus injury claims. A teenage girl claimed that a SEPTA driver injured her while ejecting her and her bike from a SEPTA trolley. I contacted SEPTA and requested the video. It showed that she pushed her bike onto the tracks just ahead of the vehicle’s rear wheel, disabling it! I was happy to discover early in the process that this case was a fraud since this allowed me to close the file without expending any more of my resources. I also let her mother know what her daughter had attempted to do.
In almost all my other cases in which SEPTA has produced videos, they have actually helped prove the claim. The videos verified impacts with other vehicles, premature bus departures, jerks and jolts, etc. Videos are worth much more than a thousand words since they let both sides know exactly what happened. Clarity is the litigators’ friend.
SEPTA claims that when the tape shows that it is liable, it settles sooner rather than later. The reality is far different. In my 32 years of experience, SEPTA has never been slower than it is at present to make fair offers of settlement. Armed with clear video proof of its liability, SEPTA should fold its tent, offer fair compensation, and close files. Why its management now sees fit to delay resolution of real claims, is a question only SEPTA can answer.
Please share your thoughts about this with me.
