Staten Island, New York (NewYorkInjuryNews.com- News Report) – The devastating 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash left many lives crushed, many families broken. Osserritta Robinson was married to Louis Robinson for only eight months before he was killed in the crash of ferryboat Andrew J. Barberi. The boat crashed into a maintenance pier near the St. George Ferry Terminal on October 15, 2003. Mr. Robinson, 50, was feeling ill and had left work early, he was one of 11 people who died in the accident and thousands were injured in one of the worst mass-transit disasters in history. The cause for the accident has been attributed to Assistant Captain Richard Smith, who was at the controls and lost consciousness due to his fatigue from painkillers.
Mrs. Robinson has recently settled a wrongful death lawsuit for the amount of $1.4 million with the city of New York. She states that even though the money will help her economically, it does not come close to replenishing the relationship she had with her husband. A prior ruling in the Brooklyn federal court was recently upheld by the appellate court, which found the city negligent in the crash and denied the city’s bid to limit its liability. A three-member panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the city “did not act with reasonable care” by letting a single pilot operate the ferry without a backup nearby to help in an emergency. Since the time of the crash, there have been 127 settlements totaling more than $38 million. Many more cases are currently pending.