A new federal suit in the tragic Woodmore Elementary School bus crash names the Hamilton County Schools and transportation director Ben Coulter as defendants.
The suit was filed by Chattanooga attorney Ronnie Berke, who represents two families. It seems to be a class action lawsuit in behalf of all victims. It is also filed by the firm of Murphy, Falcon and Murphy of Baltimore.
Six children died in the Nov. 21 crash on Talley Road in Brainerd.
The suit also names bus driver Johnthony Walker and his employer, Durham School Services.
The lawsuit says, "This horror was foreseeable, predictable and preventable."
It was noted that the county schools had received a number of complaints about the bus driver, who has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide and is slated to have a sixth count added..
The complaint "alleges that the defendants had actual prior knowledge that the bus driver was hurting the children by slamming on the brakes, driving recklessly, and intentionally swerving the bus to throw the children from their seats in order to discipline the children.
" The complaint further alleges that the defendants ignored the bus driver’s requests for assistance, even directing him to stop referring so many students to the principal’s office even though the defendants knew of the driver’s conduct. They also ignored the repeated complaints of the children on the bus, their parents and other school officials.
"In addition to acting with callous and deliberate indifference to the repeated acts of the bus driver prior to the crash, the complaint alleges that the cefendants created a dangerous situation by endorsing the driver’s method of discipline and affirmatively ordering the children onto the bus each day, thereby failing to protect them from the danger.
"The complaint is the first lawsuit stemming from the tragedy that seeks to hold both the bus company and the school district accountable for their roles in the crash.
"An advantage to the federal court filing, in which Constitutional violations are asserted, is that the plaintiffs are not subject to Tennessee’s monetary limits on liability for government bodies or Tennessee’s monetary limits on liability for damages. In addition, the complaint seeks punitive damages against both the bus company and the transportation supervisor for their roles in the crash. The complaint also requests that the matter be certified as a class action in order to ensure that each victim receives the full measure of damages permitted under the law, and to ensure an orderly procedure by which to handle these claims, as opposed to pursuing multiple separate actions. This procedure will also significantly decrease the cost of each plaintiff’s suit. A copy of the complaint is attached."