Former JP Morgan analyst, 36, is awarded $35m almost 10 years after glass door at NYC skyscraper shattered on her, leaving her brain-damaged and unable to work or keep a boyfriend

A former JP Morgan analyst has been awarded $35 million almost a decade after a glass door at New York City office building shattered on her head leaving her brain damaged.

Meghan Brown, 36, suffered the traumatic brain injury as she was exiting 271 Madison Avenue on February 2, 2015.

Dramatic video captured the moment the seven-and-a-half-foot door shattered and  sent shards of glass crashing down.

Brown was left with ‘permanent, severe’ injuries, which ended her promising career in banking and even caused her love life to suffer, she told the court.

Medics have even told her she is likely to develop early onset dementia in addition to the sensitivity to light and noise, headaches, vertigo and PTSD.

‘I remember at one point there were women that were picking glass shards out of my head, my hair,’ she told the court. 

‘I do remember seeing glass, like, everywhere, in the lobby, near me, just — I saw all of it.’

Brown was forced to take a year off work and eventually returned to JP Morgan, but her career gradually declined and she was fired for ‘performance reasons’ in 2021.

‘After the accident I just didn’t improve. I couldn’t improve,’ Brown added.

‘It just was constantly failing all the time. There was never a situation where I wasn’t. And it’s embarrassing.

‘I just  couldn’t put together that this was the new me. I just couldn’t accept it, which is why I just kept trying.’

Brown had to obtain a service dog, who has since passed, to help her with daily life.

She was also engaged until her fiancé broke things off after realizing he could not have a ‘normal life’ with her, Brown told the court.

‘There is not a facet of her existence that is unaffected by her brain injuries,’ Brown’s lawyer added.

She was awarded the sum after a jury agreed that the trauma could have been prevented if the building owner of 271 Madison had carried out proper inspections.

Brown’s lawyer successfully argued that a crack had developed on the door which would have been picked up with proper maintenance.

She also pointed out that the glass on one of the doors had previously shattered in 2010 and 2014.

Today the building is home to an audiologist’s office, dentist and an estate planner among other commercial tenants. 

On the day she was injured, Brown was leaving a physiotherapy when she pushed the door at the same time as someone on the other side.

The glass shattered over her head and several members of the public came to her aid before she was rushed to the hospital.

‘There was blood on the snow, like lots of blood,’ she told the court. ‘I remember thinking — it was almost like I was hovering or I was looking down, basically. I didn’t know where this blood was coming from, and I wondered where is this blood coming from.’

Since then, Brown has undergone years of medical treatments to assist in her recovery, including ‘neurologists, psychologists, ENTs, pain medicine physicians, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, visual therapists, and vestibular therapist’, the verdict states.

Thomas Sofield, a lawyer for the defendant 271 Madison Co., argued that there was no evidence of a crack in the door and that the tempered glass behaved exactly as designed when it shattered into several smaller pieces as opposed to a large sheet.

He also countered that Brown had not suffered any brain injuries and that the only treatment she required was for a cut to her hand. 

However, the jury found the defendant was negligent, that their negligence was a substantial factor in causing Brown’s injuries and awarded her $1,750,000 for past pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

She was awarded $20,000,000 for future pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and $13,429,208 for future medical and therapies, medications, and home health care.