3 broken legs, $1.8 million: Woman settles with King Co. Access bus firms

A woman who was injured twice riding King County Access buses has been paid $1.8 million from two bus subcontractors.

The first injury occurred in July 2006 when the bus driver neglected to ensure the passenger's wheelchair was secured, according to her attorney Corrie Yackulic. When the van came to a sudden stop, she was thrown out of her chair, breaking her leg, Yackulic said. She spent seven days in a hospital before being released to a Renton nursing home, where she lives.

The subcontractor, M/V Transportation, paid the woman $700,000 last year.

In the second accident, in September 2008, the woman was arriving at a kidney center for dialysis treatment, and the driver began to lower the van's lift before the woman's wheelchair was all the way on it, causing her to again fall out of her chair, breaking both of her legs, said Yackulic. That claim was recently settled by contractor Solid Ground Washington for $1.1 million.

Yackulic said the 60-year-old grandmother now spends most of her days in bed. "Even after the first accident she would play bingo or participate in recreational activities with other care-facility residents," Yackulic said. "Now because of the pain of getting from her bed into a wheelchair, she spends most of her time in bed."