Court Opinion

ID: 9490262
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:37:51.85382+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:59.138431
License: Public Domain

HARRY T. EDWARDS, Chief Judge,
concurring:
I agree with the majority that plaintiffs claim of negligent hiring, supervision, and training by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (“WMATA”) should never have been submitted to the jury..
*1218On the principal point in issue, I am satisfied that the jury was fully justified in returning a verdict against WMATA on plaintiff’s claim that WMATA violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. There is substantial evidence to support the verdict on this claim, even absent the disputed testimony of plaintiffs expert witness. The record establishes that, after boarding the bus and attempting to pay his fare, the plaintiff was slapped in the face by a WMATA bus operator, who apparently had become frustrated when the plaintiff, who is deaf, did not understand his oral commands. See Transcript at 75, 135, reprinted in Joint Appendix Volume II (“J.A. II”). Further, the record demonstrates that, after the plaintiff left the bus and located a transit officer so that he could report that the bus driver had struck him, the officer refused the plaintiffs request for a sign-language interpreter and, instead, compelled him to write notes in English. See id. at 80-82, 95, 171-76, reprinted in J.A. II. Written English is the third most comfortable language for the plaintiff, behind American Sign Language and written Spanish. See id. at 194, reprinted in J.A. II. This and other similar evidence offered by the plaintiff make it clear that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. Thus, I believe that, without the erroneous admission of the expert’s testimony, the plaintiff would prevail on his principal claim.
I agree, however, that the error in this case was not harmless. As I understand the “harmless error” doctrine, it is not within the province of an appellate judge to usurp the role of a jury by speculating on what a jury might have done in the absence of significant error. See Harry T. Edwards, To Err Is Human, But Not Always Harmless: When Should Legal Error Be Tolerated?, 70 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1167,1193-94,1205 (1995). Our role is to assess “whether the error ‘had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict,’ not whether the record evidence is sufficient absent the error to warrant a verdict.” Id. at 1202 (footnote omitted) (quoting O’Neal v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 434-36, 115 S.Ct. 992, 994, 130 L.Ed.2d 947 (1995)). In this case, it cannot be said that the error did not have a substantial and injurious effect on the verdict.