Port Authority paid out more than $3 million in the last fiscal year for employees, passengers and other people hurt in accidents or on the job.
Workers' compensation claims, medical benefits for injured passengers without insurance and claims for bodily injuries all went up in the fiscal year that ended June 30, said Port Authority Claims Director Todd Stoker.
Public liability — legal settlements and property damage claims paid to passengers, pedestrians and drivers of other vehicles — declined to $1.2 million from $1.3 million.
"If you were to go around and compare that number ... that's a pretty good rate," said Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie.
Among other transit agencies comparable to Port Authority in terms of size and ridership, St. Louis Regional Transit reported about $3 million in new injury, damage and personal liability claims in fiscal year 2008. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority paid out $3.1 million in workers' compensation claims in 2008 and another $3.1 million for property damage, injury claims and lawsuits.
Port Authority workers' compensation payouts were estimated at $1.85 million, up 14 percent from last year, Stoker said. To reduce on-the-job injuries, the claims department planned to start working on an employee training program emphasizing safer practices, especially for workers whose jobs include heavy lifting, he said.
Almost all of the increase in bodily injury claims came from a $300,000 settlement Port Authority reached with the estate of Mary Rukavina, 85, of Etna, who was struck by a bus on a Downtown corner in April 2008 and died of her injuries about a month later, Ritchie said.
The authority's medical benefits for injured riders without insurance jumped 232 percent. Since 2005, Port Authority refused to pay medical benefits to people whose injuries weren't conclusively the transit agency's fault, but a legal ruling forced the agency to start paying them again in January, Ritchie said.
Port Authority offset those payouts by making a stronger effort to collect money it was owed for accidents in which other drivers were at fault, more than doubling the amount it collected for property damage and workers' comp to about $666,650, Ritchie said.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
