Woman awarded $14M in California transit suit

A San Francisco Bay Area jury has ordered a public transit agency to pay a woman more than $14 million after she broke her back when a bus went over a speed bump.

Jurors reached the verdict against the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District on Tuesday. Maria Francisco sued the agency after she said she suffered a fractured vertebra while riding an AC Transit bus in August 2011.

Francisco’s lawyers alleged the bus driver went over a speed bump in a school zone in San Pablo at 30 mph – twice the legal limit – and then berated the then-20-year-old Francisco after she cried out in pain from her injury.

AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson told the San Francisco Chronicle the agency was reviewing the verdict and deciding its next step.