Bus passengers initiate lawsuits > 17 plaintiffs allege negligence led to Route 9 crash in Clifton

FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK — Seventeen of the passengers who were aboard the Canadian tour bus involved in an accident near Clifton, Maine, last December are suing the owners of the bus, Trius Inc., of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

The lawsuit alleges that Trius was negligent in employing Eric White of Fredericton as a bus driver, and that White was negligent in the operation of the vehicle by driving too fast for conditions and failing to control the bus when it skidded on the highway.

The bus slammed head-on into a pickup truck and careened into a guardrail and a utility pole before rolling over on its side. One passenger died from injuries received in the crash and 29 others were hurt.

The bus was heading for New York City from Saint John, New Brunswick, for a senior citizens’ Christmas lights tour.

Nine of the 17 passengers have launched lawsuits in Maine, while the other eight have filed three lawsuits in a New Brunswick court. So far neither the bus company nor the bus driver has filed statements of defense in response to the passengers’ claims.

The Trius company is attempting to have the Maine lawsuits moved to Canada, contending that Maine is not the most convenient place to try the case.

But Bangor lawyer Sam Lanham, representing most of those who have filed suits in Maine, says there are a number of doctors and emergency workers in Maine to be called as witnesses. He says the case could take as long as two years to go to court in Maine.

Five passengers are jointly suing the bus company for damages for pain and suffering including injuries to spines, fractured and cracked ribs, sprained wrists, damage to a heart muscle and cuts and bruises.

Other claims for special and general damages include a passenger who required surgery for a fractured arm and another who had to wear a back brace for injuries to her spine.

The daughter of one of the victims is suing to recover costs for visiting her mother while she was hospitalized in Maine with a fractured cheek bone, rib fractures and pneumonia, and for the costs of arranging her transport back to Saint John.

Joan Henderson, whose husband, John, died from injuries received in the accident, is suing for loss of companionship and grief.

The driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident also has launched a lawsuit in Maine.