Robinson v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth.

• Decision Date: 19 December 2014
• Docket Number: No. 13–7077.,13–7077.
• Citation: 774 F.3d 33
• Parties: Darlene C. ROBINSON, Appellant v. WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

774 F.3d 33

Darlene C. ROBINSON, Appellant

v.WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY, Appellee.

No. 13–7077.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Sept. 12, 2014.

Decided Dec. 19, 2014.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:11–cv–00723).

Charles C. Parsons argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Kathleen A. Carey argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellees. Mark F. Sullivan entered an appearance.

Before: GARLAND, Chief Judge, SRINIVASAN, Circuit Judge, and SENTELLE, Senior Circuit Judge.

Opinion for the Court filed by Chief Judge GARLAND.

GARLAND, Chief Judge:

A bus driver, one Mr. Bumpass, hits the brakes as he approaches a stop sign. The plaintiff, a passenger on the bus, falls backward and breaks her leg. The question on appeal is whether, in light of the evidence presented at trial, a reasonable jury could find the bus company liable for the plaintiff's injury. Applying the common law of the District of Columbia, we affirm the district court's conclusion that a reasonable jury could not.

I

On the morning of April 16, 2008, Darlene Robinson boarded a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) bus at the Gallatin and 11th Street stop in Northeast Washington, D.C. She paid her fare and proceeded past bus driver Ronald Bumpass. Robinson continued down the aisle, gripping the seat-back handrails as she went. Bumpass closed the doors and began driving away from the stop. Shortly thereafter, Bumpass hit the brakes as he approached a stop sign on Gallatin Street. As the bus decelerated, Robinson—who was still standing, facing the back of the bus—lost her grip on a handrail, fell in a twisting motion, “landed on [her] ... backside,” and broke her left leg. J.A. 514 (Robinson Testimony).

Robinson sued WMATA, alleging that Bumpass' negligent operation of the bus caused her injury and that WMATA was responsible.¹ At trial, Robinson sought to prove Bumpass' negligence on two theories. First, she sought to show that he violated WMATA's standard operating procedures (SOPs). Second, she sought to show that the “jerk” caused by Bumpass' application of the brakes was of such extraordinary force that his negligence could be inferred.

In support of her claim that Bumpass was negligent because he violated WMATA's SOPs, Robinson presented the expert testimony of Dr. Carl Berkowitz, a public transportation safety engineer. Dr. Berkowitz testified that the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Transportation fund research studies to address transportation safety issues, and that the results and recommendations from those studies “emanate[ ]” and “filter[ ] down” to “all the major transit agencies.” J.A. 27071. According to Berkowitz, those results and recommendations have led to nationally agreed-upon safety standards that all major cities in the United States, including the District of Columbia, have implemented.

Dr. Berkowitz then identified two WMATA SOPs relevant to this case, and stated that each reflected the national standard of care for city bus travel. First, a WMATA bus driver is required to check his or her rearview mirror before departing from a stop to confirm that all passengers are “secure” and “prepared for vehicle movement.” J.A. 938, 941. Second, a WMATA bus driver is instructed to start the bus “gradually” and stop the bus “smoothly.” J.A. 942–43.

Counsel for WMATA asked Dr. Berkowitz where and when these national standards for safe bus travel were articulated. Berkowitz replied that they were “developed from research, which actually dates back to Hammurabi—the Hammurabi Code—I guess [that] would be 3,500 years ago.” J.A. 458. He also said that the “first major research in this area[ ] was in the book of Deuteronomy.” Id.

To establish that Bumpass violated the SOPs identified by Dr. Berkowitz, Robinson called Bumpass himself to the stand. Bumpass admitted that he did not check his mirror before leaving the stop that morning. He knew there were several open seats up front, he said, and he assumed Robinson had sat down by the time he closed the doors and started driving. J.A. 667–68.

In support of her alternative theory—that Bumpass' negligence was shown by the fact that his braking had caused the bus to jerk with extraordinary force—Robinson took the stand to testify that the bus was going “fast, faster than normal buses,” J.A. 513, and that it “was jerking and then [there] was an abrupt stop,” J.A. 528. The abrupt stop, she testified, caused her to lose her grip on the handrail and fall. J.A. 528–29.

Robinson also presented the expert testimony of Dr. Jamie Williams, a biomedical engineer, to explain how the force of the bus' movements caused her to lose her grip on the handrail and fall down. Dr. Williams testified that a torsional force on Robinson's left lower leg, brought about by the deceleration of the bus, caused her leg to break. Williams estimated that, based on the maximum grip strength of a woman of similar age and weight as Robinson, the “deceleration that would have destabilized her” would have been roughly “.38 times gravity.” J.A. 207. When asked on cross-examination if she had any information relating to the actual strength of Robinson's grip that day, Dr. Williams acknowledged that she did not. She testified that her conclusions were premised on the assumption that Robinson had been holding onto the handrail as tightly as she possibly could. J.A. 227–28.

At the close of Robinson's case and again at the conclusion of all of the evidence, WMATA moved for judgment as a matter of law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a). The district court reserved ruling on those motions and submitted the case to the jury, which returned a verdict for Robinson and awarded her $404,713.28 in damages. Thereafter, the court granted WMATA's renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(b). Robinson v. WMATA, 941 F.Supp.2d. 61 (D.D.C.2013).

In granting judgment as a matter of law in favor of WMATA, the court rejected Robinson's effort to prove negligence through the violation of WMATA's standard operating procedures. The court concluded that Dr. Berkowitz had failed to show that either of the two SOPs reflected national standards of care; that there was no evidence of “a causal connection between the driver's failure to check the internal center mirror and [Robinson's] injury,” id. at 69 n. 5; and that the “start gradually and stop smoothly” SOP could not serve as a negligence standard because to treat it as such “would be inconsistent with District of Columbia law,” id. at 71. The court also rejected Robinson's theory that Bumpass' negligence could be inferred from the bus' jerk, concluding that the evidence was insufficient to show that the jerk was of an extraordinary nature.

Robinson filed a timely appeal, and that appeal is now before us.

II

We must affirm a Rule 50(b) judgment as a matter of law “if, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and drawing all reasonable inferences, it is clear that a reasonable jury could only have found for the moving party.” Johnson v. WMATA, No. 90–7027, 1991 WL 214174, at *2 (D.C.Cir.1991); see Conseil Alain Aboudaram, S.A. v. de Groote, 460 F.3d 46, 50 (D.C.Cir.2006). Federal jurisdiction over this lawsuit arises under the WMATA Compact. SeeD.C.Code § 9–1107.01(81).² The Compact provides that WMATA shall be liable for the torts of its employees “in accordance with the law of the applicable signatory,” id. § 9–1107.01(80), which in this case is the District of Columbia.³ The tort law of the District of Columbia therefore controls our disposition, Briggs v. WMATA, 481 F.3d 839, 843 (D.C.Cir.2007), and we must aim “to achieve the same outcome [that] would result if the District of Columbia Court of Appeals considered this case,” id. (quoting Novak v. Capital Mgmt. & Dev. Corp., 452 F.3d 902, 907 (D.C.Cir.2006)).

In Johnson v. WMATA, we suggested that there are (at least) two theories under which a plaintiff may recover in a bus negligence case against WMATA. 1991 WL 214174, at *1. First, a plaintiff may present direct evidence of negligence. For example, evidence that a bus driver let himself be distracted while driving can be sufficient to recover. See Sibert–Dean v. WMATA, 721 F.3d 699, 701 (D.C.Cir.2013) (affirming a finding of negligence where the driver turned to look at teenage girls). Evidence that a driver violated an applicable standard of care can likewise be sufficient. See WMATA v. O'Neill, 633 A.2d 834, 841 (D.C.1993). Second, a plaintiff may offer circumstantial evidence of negligence by showing that the driver caused a jerk “so violent or extraordinary that it could not have been consistent with safe operation of the bus.” Johnson, 1991 WL 214174, at *2 (citing Boyko v. WMATA, 468 A.2d 582, 584 (D.C.1983)).

The question on this appeal is whether Robinson presented sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find negligence under either theory. We address the direct evidence theory in Part III and the circumstantial evidence theory in Part IV.

III

Under District of Columbia law, a plaintiff seeking to prove her case through direct evidence of negligence has the burden of establishing three elements: (1) “the applicable standard of care”; (2) “a deviation from that standard by the defendant”; and (3) “a causal relationship” between the deviation and the injury she suffered. Varner v. District of Columbia, 891 A.2d 260, 265 (D.C.2006). To prove her case on this theory, Robinson argued that WMATA's check-your-mirror and “start gradually, stop smoothly” SOPs constituted applicable standards of care; that Bumpass deviated from those standards; and that her injury was the consequence of those deviations. On appeal, she challenges the district court's conclusion that she failed to establish that either of the SOPs constituted an applicable standard of care and,...