A woman who had her leg amputated after she was hit by a Community Connector bus can continue her lawsuit, Maine’s high court said Thursday.
Amarylis Fisher, then 72, was in a crosswalk when she was hit Aug. 15, 2020 by a Community Connector bus while it was turning from Hammond Street onto Main Street. She had a leg amputated after the crash and had a broken hip and leg. She also needed skin grafts.
In 2022, Fisher sued the Community Connector and municipalities that fund it in Penobscot County Superior Court. Four of those municipalities, Hampden, Veazie, Orono, Old Town and Brewer, asked the county court to resolve the lawsuit before a trial. Bangor, which also funds the service, did not join the appeal.
The superior court denied the request and the decision was appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in December 2024. The court denied the appeal on Thursday, saying that it was about the facts of the case, which was not up to them to decide.
The high court’s decision was about 80% procedural, Fisher’s attorney Charles Gilbert III said. The case will return to Penobscot County Superior Court, and Gilbert said his hope is that they’re one step closer to getting Fisher her day in court. Her side has won other arguments in the case, which has stretched the proceedings out longer, he said.
A lawyer for the municipalities did not respond to a request for comment.
The sides dispute whether the bus was on a Community Connector route or on a city route within Bangor. The four towns argued that the bus that hit Fisher was a Bangor-only bus. But those routes are indistinguishable, the high court ruled.
One key issue in the lawsuit is a state law that caps damages at $400,000 for governmental entities. That limit is not high for someone who had a leg amputated, Gilbert said.
There is an exception in this case because the injuries came from the Community Connector, Fisher argued. The law has an exception for motor vehicles. The four municipalities said they neither owned or maintained the bus nor hired the driver.
Those facts will influence the outcome of the lawsuit, however those questions are still unanswered. It is up to the lower court to find those facts, the high court ruled.
Fisher is seeking $15 million for her injuries, according to previous reporting. If Fisher had been hit by a Greyhound bus, none of this would have been an issue because insurance would have covered the damages.
When asked how his client is doing nearly six years later, Gilbert said, “How is anybody doing that had their leg cut off at their hip?”
