The chronically cash-strapped MTA has become a money train for riders filing personal-injury lawsuits, forcing taxpayers to dole out tens of millions of dollars a year.
The payouts come from the MTA’s day-to-day operating budget, which recently got a $1.6 billion bailout for 2009.
About 2,750 claims are filed every year, from people taking a simple spill while on MTA property to bone-headed buffoons who try — and fail — to outrun subway trains, said Martin Schnabel, NYC Transit’s chief lawyer.
“There are a small, but not insignificant, number of cases every year of people intentionally on the tracks coming into contact with trains,” Schnabel said.
Some of the more staggering claims include a $2.3 million verdict earlier this year awarded to Brooklyn resident Dustin Dibble.
A blotto Dibble, whose blood-alcohol level was more than double the legal limit, toppled onto the tracks and was struck by a train. The jury, however, determined the MTA was 65 percent responsible.
Outstanding claims, which are currently under appeal by the MTA, include a $12.5 million verdict for a woman severely injured by a bus in 2003, and a $7.2 million award to a biker hit by a bus, according to an MTA Audit Committee report obtained by The Post.
About 7,800 lawsuits are waiting in the wings for MTA attorneys, who either trust a jury to decide or wind up settling out of court.
“The numbers themselves are pretty daunting,” Schnabel recently told the MTA board.
“We get 3,000 claims a year — that’s about 60 a week . . . about 12 a day — we probably got some while we were speaking,” he said.
One bus-related injury claim was essentially filed every 88,170 miles in 2007, Schnabel said.
Last year, the agency paid out $57.6 million on 1,187 personal-injury claims. Of 150 jury decisions, 96 were in the MTA’s favor, the Audit Committee report said.
“There are also verdicts we simply don’t agree with and cause us to pull our hair out,” Schnabel said. “But overall, the majority of verdicts don’t fall into that category.”
About one-third of the cases simply expire without any action, he said.