Jury awards $476,500 to woman who fell from airport shuttle

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Portland jury awarded $476,500 to a Milwaukie woman who broke her ankle after stepping out of an airport shuttle in the dark.

The Oregonian/Oregon Live reports Blue Star Airport Express must pay the award to 74-year-old Dorothy Kohut following the jury’s verdict on Friday.

Kohut sued the company after she fell in a depression in the ground when exiting a shuttle in January 2014.

The suit claimed that the shuttle stopped about 20 feet (6 meters) short of her well-lit driveway, and the driver didn’t offer her assistance or a stepping stool to get out.

Kohut claimed other shuttle drivers had always offered her help with getting out of the vehicle.

Officials from the shuttle company didn’t immediately return a call from the newspaper seeking comment on Monday.