BY RACHEL DOVE
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
SALYERSVILLE — A Nov. 14 school bus crash in Magoffin County that sent 18 students and the driver to hospitals is the subject of lawsuits filed Wednesday in Magoffin Circuit Court by the parents of two of the children.
Pikeville attorney William R. Johnson filed the suits on behalf of mothers Barbara Jenkins and Courtney Howard, who each had a daughter seriously injured in the early morning accident.
The accident occurred when the bus went off the roadway on Rt. 40, and the driver allegedly overcompensated, striking the guardrail on the opposite side of the road and going over an approximate 300-foot embankment where the bus landed on its side. Injuries reportedly ranged from cuts and abrasions to broken bones and head and spinal injuries.
The lawsuit names the bus driver, Wanda Bailey, as a defendant along with the Magoffin County Board of Education. The complaint alleges Bailey operated the bus in a “negligent manner and/or with reckless regard for safety,” causing the vehicle to go off the road and resulting in both female juveniles “suffering serious and life-threatening injuries.”
Johnson said parents of students who rode Bailey’s bus had voiced complaints about her driving before the crash.
“This was such a severe and catastrophic crash we really need to get to the bottom of what happened,” Johnson told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “This should never happen.”
Eleven students involved in the accident were released after being treated and were back in the classroom within days of the crash. Several suffered serious or critical injuries.
One of the females Johnson represents suffered extensive injuries, including skull fractures, brain bleeding, and rib and vertebrae fractures. The second female sustained head and facial injuries, among others.
Neither student has been able to return to school. The driver was thrown from the bus and was penned under the wreckage, suffering critical injuries.
The suit claims the BOE was negligent in entrusting the bus to Bailey, not supervising her operation of the vehicle, not using proper care in hiring, training and supervising the driver, and failing to “provide, establish and/or enforce” adequate safety policies.
The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of money as compensation for the two students for physical and mental pain, suffering and inconvenience; a permanent loss in the ability to earn money, medical expenses; and other damages. It also seeks an unspecified amount in punitive damages.
WKYT reported that Attorney Don McFarland, who represents the Magoffin County BOE, issued the following statement:
By way of a statement, we have not received any officially filed suit papers from attorney Johnson. Multiple students are represented by attorneys from all areas of the Commonwealth and from what I understand, out-of-state attorneys as well. I assume that multiple lawsuits will be filed which allege negligence on the part of almost anyone attached to the school system. The Magoffin County school system maintains that it properly trains, monitors, tests, and oversees all its employees, including bus drivers. This bus crash was a devastating accident and was an extremely unfortunate event that was beyond the control of the Magoffin County School Board. The Superintendent and Board of Education have always and will always look after the safety, the education and the well-being of our students and we deeply regret that this tragic accident occurred.
