The Boston area’s public transportation agency is not immune from liability for injuries caused by an assault on a customer by one of its bus drivers who had a history that included anger management issues and a prior assault.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) can be held liable for negligence in hiring, promoting, retaining, and supervising its own employe.
The state’s highest court concluded that the law “does not provide immunity to a public employer for its misfeasance in placing an employee with known but untreated anger management issues that manifest in violent and hostile behaviors in a public-facing position.”
In response to a lawsuit by an MBTA customer who was violently assaulted by one of its bus dri