MARTA pays $1.7M for negligence in rape lawsuit

The main reason MARTA got into this mess was really bad record-keeping. Ed Wall was angry after the verdict because Judge Craig Schwall cut off MARTA's testimony for being negligent in sharing information (police statistics/records). Wall's argument is that MARTA shouldn't be liable for crimes committed on its system, rather the only person who should be held responsible is the person who committed the rape. Judge Schwall cut them off saying "I will tell you it's a very brazen, intentional, deceitful act on the part of MARTA." Regardless of the opinions of Wall and Schwall, MARTA has a safety problem which will need to be addressed immediately or more lawsuits will follow. Beth Warren/Paul Donsky - AJC (2/7/07-8:57pm)