DENVER, COLORADO – The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a jury’s decision that a taxicab operator must pay $940,000 to a man who was run over by a taxi after intervening in an assault on a driver. The court disagreed with the previous ruling, which stated that stealing a taxi and running over a good Samaritan was not a foreseeable consequence of the cab company’s failure to protect its drivers.
The incident occurred in 2014 when the assailant, Curt Glinton, assaulted a taxi driver after refusing to pay his fare. Jose Garcia, a passerby, intervened to stop the fight, prompting Glinton to attack him instead. Glinton then stole the cab and ran over Garcia, causing serious injuries.
Garcia filed a lawsuit against Colorado Cab, arguing that the company failed to install partitions and cameras in its vehicles to protect its drivers from assaults. The jury agreed and awarded Garcia $1.6 million in damages, holding Glinton responsible for the majority. The Supreme Court upheld Garcia’s status as a rescuer and ruled that Colorado Cab was liable for $940,825.
The Court of Appeals initially reversed the verdict, but the Supreme Court disagreed and reinstated the jury’s decision. Justice William W. Hood III wrote that the jury and the court viewed Glinton’s actions as an escalation of his original assault, making it reasonably foreseeable that he would harm anyone who tried to stop him.
Colorado Cab has not yet commented on the ruling, while Garcia’s attorney, Danny Foster, expressed satisfaction with the outcome after years of legal battles. He said Garcia had been waiting for justice for almost 10 years and that his life had been permanently affected by the injuries he sustained.
The Supreme Court’s decision acknowledged that there are limits to what injuries can be considered a foreseeable consequence of a good Samaritan’s intervention. However, in this case, the court concluded that Colorado Cab was liable for its role in Garcia’s injuries.
The case, Garcia v. Colorado Cab Company, LLC, has gone through multiple appeals and has finally reached a resolution with the Supreme Court’s ruling.