Opinion ID: 490905
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 WMATA is a creature of an interstate compact among Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, Pub.L. No. 89-774, 80 Stat. 1324 (1966), and is charged with the operation and maintenance of a mass transit system. Pursuant to that mandate WMATA engaged Westinghouse to maintain and repair the escalators in WMATA's metrorail stations. The injuries in question here occurred on August 18, 1983, when Kevin Morse, a Westinghouse mechanic, and Best, his assistant, were changing light bulbs on the barrier between an escalator and stairway at the Clarendon Station in Virginia. 3 Noticing that several of the light bulbs were broken, Best and Morse took various steps to cut off power to the relevant outlets. As a handrail obstructed efforts to reach one of the broken bulbs with a tool, Best used his bare hand. In doing so, he either received an electrical shock or stabbed himself on broken glass. He reflexively pulled his hand out of the fixture, lacerating his wrist on the fixture's sharp edge. 4 Best sued WMATA in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 1 alleging that WMATA's negligent labeling of the electrical panel and placement of the handrail in front of the light fixture proximately caused his accident. A jury awarded Best $373,000. WMATA now appeals.