SF supes approve lawsuit settlement By MATT KAPKO Bay City News Service June 14, 2005 The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today passed an ordinance authorizing a lawsuit settlement of $1.02 million stemming from a 2003 Municipal Railway accident that cost a woman part of her leg. The total settlement will be $2.04 million, including a $1.02 million payment from the Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors. Klara Khaimskaya, 72, was severely injured May 1, 2003 when she tripped on the curbside of a bus stop and a No. 38 limited line bus ran over her leg, according to the lawsuit filed Oct. 16, 2003 in San Francisco Superior Court. Khaimskaya tripped on an elevated section of the sidewalk in the 2600 block of Geary Street when she walked from the shelter at the bus stop to the No. 38 local bus that was waiting behind the No. 38 limited bus, according to the lawsuit. The No. 38 limited bus ran over her right leg as it pulled away from the bus stop, according to the lawsuit. Khaimskaya's leg had to be amputated below the knee due to her injuries. The lawsuit claimed that the area around the bus path "was in a dangerous condition and created a substantial risk of injury,'' and that the city neglected to improve the area although it was aware of the "dangerous condition.'' Khaimskaya and her husband plan to move out of their high-rise apartment in San Francisco's Tenderloin District to a residence more suitable for her condition, one of Khaimskaya's lawyers, Walter Walker III, said today. "It's too dangerous for them to take any kind of leisurely walks or nighttime walks in the neighborhood,'' he said after the Board of Supervisors approved the settlement. The couple immigrated to San Francisco from Russia in 1994 with their two sons, Walker said. She became an American citizen in 2000, he said. "They are very much San Franciscans now,'' Walker said. "They've done very well in terms of integrating into American society.'' The settlement, he said, represents a "compromise on both sides,'' but he'd still like to see the bus stop improved. "You now have a situation where patrons are constantly stepping into the tree well,'' he said. "I would like to see MUNI repair this before someone else gets hurt.'' The city's $1.02 million payment will be made from the general fund. MUNI's Board of Directors approved its settlement payment of $1.02 million on April 19. Home