Meghan Brown, former JP Morgan analyst wins $35M after shattered glass that fell on her as she opened a glass door at 271 Madison Avenue ten years ago led to the woman suffering permanent brain damage and a host of other issues, including being unable to keep a love life.
Right verdict? A former JP Morgan analyst was awarded a $35 million verdict after the glass door of a Manhattan building suddenly shattered on her nearly a decade ago, leaving her with permanent brain damage, unable to keep a job and her love life ruined.
Meghan Brown, 36, suffered the traumatic brain injury as she was exiting 271 Madison Avenue on February 2, 2015 whom she sued for damages after her ‘life being destroyed.’
The ruling followed a three-week trial in which jurors were shown surveillance footage of the moment the 7½-foot-tall lobby door shattering as Brown was walking through it while leaving a physical therapy appointment in 2015.
Resultant brain injuries impacted plaintiff’s ability to have ‘normal life’
Falling shards of glass rained over Brown, leaving the financial worker with ‘permanent, severe’ injuries, which ended her promising career in banking and even caused her love life to suffer, she told the court.
Medics have even told her she is likely to develop early onset dementia in addition to the sensitivity to light and noise, headaches, vertigo and PTSD.
‘I remember at one point there were women that were picking glass shards out of my head, my hair,’ the investment banker told the court according to the nypost.
‘I do remember seeing glass, like, everywhere, in the lobby, near me, just — I saw all of it.’
Brown was forced to take a year off work and eventually returned to JP Morgan, but her career gradually declined and she was fired for ‘performance reasons’ in 2021.
‘After the accident I just didn’t improve. I couldn’t improve,’ Brown added.
‘It just was constantly failing all the time. There was never a situation where I wasn’t. And it’s embarrassing.
‘I just couldn’t put together that this was the new me. I just couldn’t accept it, which is why I just kept trying.’
Brown had to obtain a service dog, who has since passed, to help her with daily life.
She was also engaged until her fiancé broke things off after realizing he could not have a ‘normal life’ with her, Brown told the court.
‘There is not a facet of her existence that is unaffected by her brain injuries,’ Brown’s lawyer added.
Previous door shattering incidents in 2010 and 2014
The former finance worker was awarded the sum after a jury agreed that the trauma could have been prevented if the building owner of 271 Madison had carried out proper inspections.
Brown’s lawyer successfully argued that a crack had developed on the door which would have been picked up with proper maintenance.
She also pointed out that the glass on one of the doors had previously shattered in 2010 and 2014.
Today the building is home to an audiologist’s office, dentist and an estate planner among other commercial tenants according to the dailymail.
On the day she was injured, Brown was leaving a physiotherapy when she pushed the door at the same time as someone on the other side.
The glass shattered over her head and several members of the public came to her aid, with the area strewn with blood, before she was rushed to the hospital.
Unanimous verdict citing building management’s ‘negligence’
Since then, Brown has undergone years of medical treatments to assist in her recovery, including ‘neurologists, psychologists, ENTs, pain medicine physicians, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, visual therapists, and vestibular therapist’, the verdict stated.
Thomas Sofield, a lawyer for the defendant 271 Madison Co., argued that there was no evidence of a crack in the door and that the tempered glass behaved exactly as designed when it shattered into several smaller pieces as opposed to a large sheet.
The attorney instead painted the incident as a freak accident that couldn’t have been prevented by the landlord.
He also countered that Brown had not suffered any brain injuries and that the only treatment she required was for a cut to her hand.
It took about three days of deliberations for the six-person jury to unanimously rule in favor of Brown, finding that building owner 271 Madison Co.’s negligence was ‘a substantial factor in causing’ her injuries, according to a jury verdict sheet.
The jury stated the building’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing Brown’s injuries and awarded her $1,750,000 for past pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
She was awarded $20,000,000 for future pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and $13,429,208 for future medical and therapies, medications, and home health care.
