Jury Awards Woman $15 Million After MAX Train Severed Her Leg (Latest News)

A Multnomah County jury today decided that TriMet should have made changes to make its train station safer for patrons and awarded $15 million to a woman who was injured by a MAX train and lost her leg.

In November 2015, Andrea "Amy" Laing, who was crossing the tracks, did not notice an out-of-service train approaching the Elmonica station until it was too late. She claimed that when she looked up and saw the train, she attempted to stop but was unable to move out of the way.

The claim in the case was that there weren't enough physical barriers, crossing gates, or flashing light signals on the platform to alert people walking by that a train was coming.

Laing was hit by the train, which caused her leg to be amputated. She also sustained significant internal injuries, shattered ribs, and face fractures.

TriMet claimed that Laing, who had earphones in and was sporting an upturned hood on his coat, was inattentive and distracted. Laing denied using headphones to listen to loud music during the trial. Laing did not, however, contest some of the accident's blame.

On February 25, the jury returned a verdict and assigned culpability. The jury determined that TriMet bore responsibility for 43% of the accident, the driver bore responsibility for 15%, and Laing bore responsibility for 42%.

$5 million in economic damages and $10 million in non-economic damages were given to Laing. Due to Oregon statutes that limit the amount of money a public entity must pay out in a lawsuit, that sum could alter.