Family of Child Struck by School Bus Settles

Philadelphia and Allentown, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

Pennsylvania Law Weekly, March 30, 2010

David Sternberg, a partner at Wapner, Newman, Wigrizer, Brecher & Miller, reached a $2 million settlement for the family of an eight-year-old boy who suffered skull and facial fractures after being struck by a school bus and dragged over 100 feet.

In Sanders v. Delaware County School Bus Co., the boy was sitting on the crossbar of a bicycle while his 9-year-old cousin pedaled across a street in Philadelphia within the designated crosswalk. The school bus driver stopped at a stop sign at the intersection, and then continued driving without seeing the children. She hit them with the front bumper of the bus and continued more than 100 feet before stopping.

The driver testified at her deposition that she had taken an alternate route while taking students home from a Plymouth Meeting school on the day of the accident. She testified that while she was stopped at the intersection, she watched two men cross in front of the bus from her right to her left and then continued driving. She then noticed that the man in the car to her right was gesturing to her and she asked the aide on the bus what the man was trying to say. She then heard a noise near the left rear wheel of the bus and stopped to find the boy lying in the street.

The defense had argued that witness accounts differed as to whether the children had crossed in front of the bus at the intersection or in the middle of the street. Attorney Sternberg said the driver was unable to see the children crossing in front of her bus because the mirrors on the bus had shifted. The driver testified that she believed the mirrors had shifted because of the vibrations from the roads she drove on and had already complained multiple times to the bus' owner, Delaware County Bus Co., about her mirrors' tendency to become loose and move out of position.

Attorney Sternberg argued that the driver's negligence, "in the broadest of terms," included failure to maintain control of the bus, failure to use caution in driving the bus, failure to note the "point and position" of the children and failure to stop the bus.

The defense claims that the children's bicycle "got into a blind spot in front of the bus" and that the driver didn't realize she had hit anything until she saw other motorists gesturing to her, at which point she stopped the "old and slow moving vehicle."

The boy suffered "traumatic brain injury, multiple skull and facial fractures, right eye corneal abrasion, generalized weakness and facial wounds" and now has permanent facial and head scarring." He "remains unable to participate in the typical everyday activities of children his age since he must be careful not to injure the open wounds on his head.

Car accident attorney in Pennsylvania, David Sternberg was able to reach a $2 million settlement. "I think there was some interest on the defendant's part to resolve it and I think the family wanted to resolve it, as well," he said. "I don't think there was any smoking gun situation. We were, through our expert reports, able to establish liability, which was contested."

If you would like more information on this case or more information on our lawyers' experience, contact us to set up a personalized consultation for free in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.