A “blue-ribbon panel” retained by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in the wake of a $51 million jury verdict and a $1 million contempt-of-court sanction against the agency April 27 announced its finding that widespread systemic failures in SEPTA’s accident-investigation and claims-handling procedures as well numerous individual errors led to the costly debacle in court.
But the panel concluded that the mishandling of evidence and failure to produce documents during discovery was not intentional, and it declined to make recommendations regarding discipline for specific SEPTA employees, leaving such decisions to SEPTA’s board.
