In December 2013, a collision of two school buses from the Manatee County School District resulted in 15 students being sent to the hospital. Now, one family has filed a lawsuit against the district over the accident and is seeking more than $15,000 in monetary damages.
The woman filing the lawsuit, Taylor Etienne, says that the bus accident left two of the passengers with lasting injuries from which they have not been able to fully recover.
The accident reportedly occurred when both buses were near the intersection of Cortez Road West and 40th Street West. One bus slammed into the rear of the other while students were on board. According to police, neither of the buses was speeding at the time of the accident, but the first bus had to make a sudden stop because of heavy traffic on Cortez Road. The second bus did not stop in time, which caused the rear-end collision.
Students were thrown out of their seats, with some covered in shattered glass, but for the most part, injuries in the accident were described as being “superficial.” However, Etienne believes the district poorly handled the matter, even lying to her about an accident having occurred at all. She claims that district officials told her that her children had not yet arrived home simply because the bus was running late.
When injuries occur on school buses, the usual course of action for people wishing to file a personal injury claim is to take action against the bus company, the city that manages the bus line or, in this case, the school district. Bus drivers themselves are typically not liable unless they were intoxicated or being purposefully or recklessly negligent in their driving.
For more information on filing a personal injury claim after a bus accident in Florida, get in touch with the skilled Bradenton personal injury lawyers at Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, Murphy & Walsh.