A woman in another state recently filed a personal injury lawsuit, alleging that her daughter suffered a traumatic brain injury in a school bus accident. The bus accident ended up killing six students. Several other students were also injured in the crash. If a person suffers a serious injury to the brain due to another person’s negligent behavior, it constitutes grounds for litigation in New Mexico and other states.
In the recent out-of-state case, the woman who filed the lawsuit against the bus driver and the school bus services company on her daughter’s behalf alleged that the bus driver was driving too quickly and ended up flipping the bus after losing control of it. She claimed that her daughter suffered brain and orthopedic injuries due to the accident. The bus driver, said to be 24 years old, was arrested following the accident and now faces formal accusations of vehicular homicide.
Understandably, the girl will likely face a long road to recovery, with no guarantees. She is expected to require rehabilitation for years. She will also likely suffer permanent deficits and difficulties.
When a person in New Mexico suffers a serious injury to the brain as a result of another party’s reckless or negligent behavior, he or she may choose to seek to hold that person accountable through the civil court system. Financial responsibility has to be established to the court’s satisfaction, based upon a showing of negligence, before claims for damages can be decided. If the bus driver in an out-of-state case, which occurred in Tennessee, is ultimately convicted in criminal court, proof of the conviction may be offered in civil court as proof of liability for the victim’s injuries.
Source: wkrn.com, “Mom files lawsuit after girl suffers ‘traumatic brain injury’ in Chattanooga bus crash“, Dec. 5, 2016
