The $14 million verdict awarded a former Pennsbury High School student who lost her left leg in a bus accident was reduced Thursday to the state limit of $500,000.
"There is no dispute that the circumstances of this case create an unfair and unjust result," Bucks County Court Judge Robert J. Mellon said while upholding the liability limit on school districts and municipalities. A "reevaluation of the constitutionality of the statutory cap on damages … is necessary."
A jury awarded Ashley Zauflik, 22, of Fairless Hills, more than $14 million in December, after a four-day trial that detailed her debilitating injury from the 2007 accident. The district conceded responsibility for the accident, in which its out-of-control bus ran over the young woman and about 19 other students.
