Hours after a February school-bus crash on Galbraith Road left two 13-year-old cousins badly hurt, an insurance adjuster was already on the phone, floating a quick settlement. The families say that first offer was a thin one, their attorney calls it a "lowball," and they are now in court arguing the bus company never should have put that driver behind the wheel in the first place. The case is stirring fresh debate over driver training and fatigue in student transportation across greater Cincinnati.
What the suit says
According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, the lawsuit filed in March in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court alleges a school-bus driver fell asleep on Feb. 13 and caused a head-on crash on Galbraith Road. The complaint says two 13-year-old boys, described in the filing as cousins, were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, including a neck injury for one child and a broken wrist for the other. The suit names Universal Transportation Systems as the bus contractor and claims the company failed to properly hire, train or supervise the driver.
Training standards in Ohio
Ohio sets out detailed pupil-transportation standards that apply before a driver can operate a bus with students on board. Those rules require pre-service classroom instruction plus a minimum amount of on-the-bus, behind-the-wheel training, along with periodic driver-record checks and in-service training. The requirements are spelled out in state regulations that define classroom, range and road-proficiency benchmarks for school-bus drivers. The lawsuit’s allegation that the contractor cut corners on training and supervision is presented against the backdrop of those statutory standards.
Adjuster offered quick payout, attorney says
Not long after the wreck, an adjuster for National Interstate Insurance contacted the families with what plaintiffs’ lawyer Alexander Durst describes as a fast settlement offer, a "lowball offer," he told The Cincinnati Enquirer. The outlet reports that a National Interstate media representative was unavailable for comment on April 2. Durst says the early offer landed before anyone had a clear picture of the boys’ medical needs, and the families turned it down.
What the lawsuit seeks
The complaint asks for monetary damages to cover medical expenses and to compensate for physical and mental pain and anguish. The case is pending in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. Civil filings in Common Pleas matters are processed at the Hamilton County Courthouse in downtown Cincinnati, which lists its Common Pleas civil and criminal divisions at 1000 Main Street. The boys’ families are represented by local counsel, and public legal filings and attorney directories list Alexander Durst as counsel for the plaintiffs.
Why fatigue and oversight matter
Drowsy driving is widely recognized as a serious safety problem. Federal research and traffic-safety studies attribute thousands of crashes and serious injuries each year to fatigue, and investigators note that sleep-deprived drivers can show impairments similar to those of drivers under the influence of alcohol. State education officials and school-board leaders have been weighing tougher training and in-service requirements for school-bus drivers, and the Ohio School Boards Association has highlighted proposals to increase annual in-service hours and strengthen oversight. Plaintiffs’ attorneys say the quick settlement attempt, along with the lawsuit itself, is likely to sharpen the focus on contractor hiring, scheduling and training practices if discovery reveals that the company fell short of those expectations.
Sources: The Cincinnati Enquirer; Ohio Administrative Code 3301-83-10; Hamilton County Clerk of Courts; public court filing / attorney listing; NHTSA research on drowsy driving; Ohio School Boards Association.
