Significant Settlement After Deadly School Bus Crash
GREENE & PHILLIPS, LLC and BEASLEY ALLEN LAW FIRM reach settlement in deadly SCHOOL BUS crash
The settlement was reached with corporate defendants IC Bus and Navistar and one individual driver whose negligent actions led to the fatal crash.
Mobile, Ala. (May 10, 2022) –
“While the individual drivers’ negligence initiated the crash, IC Bus and Navistar were ultimately responsible for Mrs. Welch’s death,” said Beasley Allen’s lead products liability lawyer Greg Allen. “IC Bus and Navistar’s decision to use inadequate and ineffective roof supports were the primary contributors to this needless tragedy.”
According to David Greene, “This settlement will have resounding implications and will hopefully lead to safer bus designs for our children. Mobile tax dollars are currently being spent on buses that have a safety-related defect.”
On Oct. 10, 2019, Kimberleigh Welch, a school bus driver for the Mobile County Public School System, was traveling south on I-65. Brandon Barner was traveling in a 2017 Nissan Altima in the left lane adjacent to the school bus when Mr. Barner moved right, causing the bus to veer off the exit ramp and tip over, causing the roof to collapse onto Mrs. Welch, suffocating her.
IC Bus and Navistar placed a defective, unsafe bus on the market without adequate roof and body structure. The rollover occurred at only 12 miles per hour. The corporate defendants created an unreasonable risk of harm by failing to use adequate designs that were available at the time the bus was designed, manufactured and sold. The defendants continue placing at risk the lives of school children and school bus drivers every day when these passengers board the defendants’ defective school buses.
The case was filed in the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama, case number 02-CV-2019-903280.00. According to Allen, Presiding Judge Micheal Youngpeter was instrumental in getting the case resolved for this deserving family. Greene & Phillips lawyer Britt Bethea and Beasley Allen lawyers Stephanie Monplaisir and Kendall Dunson also represented the family in this case.
About Greene & Phillips
Greene & Phillips has represented clients with personal injury and wrongful death cases in the southeast since 1998. Greene & Phillips has offices in Mobile and Birmingham. For more information about the firm and other noteworthy cases we’ve handled, visit www. greenephillips.com. As always, call or come by anytime; you never need an appointment.
About Beasley Allen Law Firm
Founded in 1979, Beasley Allen Law Firm is a leader in complex plaintiff litigation nationwide. We work with attorneys and clients nationwide and have offices located in Atlanta, Georgia, Dallas, Texas, Mobile, Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama. Our award-winning attorneys live by our creed of “helping those who need it most.” For more information about our firm, please visit us online at www.beasleyallen.com.
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