Lawsuit Says Girl Received Severe Traumatic Brain Injury In Woodmore Bus Wreck

  • Monday, December 5, 2016

A new lawsuit in the tragic Woodmore Elementary School bus wreck said one girl on the bus suffered a severe traumatic brain injury.

Attorneys Joseph Fried and Michael Goldberg of Fried Rogers Goldberg LLC filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Circuit Court on behalf of the minor daughter of Shanquatta Byrd.

The bus driver, Johnthony Walker, was transporting 37 students from Woodmore Elementary School and lost control of the bus causing it to strike a pole and tree and flip over. The bus was being operated by Durham School Services and its parent company National Express LLC.

“It is heartbreaking whenever children are involved, especially when the crash was as preventable as this one appears to be,” said attorney Fried. “This beautiful child now faces a long and difficult road to recovery with years of rehabilitation and likely permanent difficulties and deficits.  The family wants to know why this had to happen and what can be done to prevent these kinds of tragedies in the future.  This lawsuit is the first step in answering those questions.”

Fried Rogers Goldberg LLC represented two of the five families of the Georgia Southern nursing school students who lost their lives in a tragic collision with a tractor-trailer operated by Total Transportation of Mississippi on I-16 near Savannah, Ga., on April 22, 2015, and represented one of the nursing students who was injured in the collision.  The nursing student cases were settled a few days before the year anniversary of the accident.

“This case has similarities to the Georgia Southern nursing student cases in that we believe the problem is much bigger than just a negligent driver,” attorney Fried said. “We believe that corporate negligence is very much at issue and we intend to get to the bottom of it so this does not happen again.” 

Fried Rogers Goldberg LLC, of Atlanta, focuses its practice on representing victims of commercial vehicle collisions and has handled commercial vehicle cases across the country.

Click here to read the lawsuit.
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