Back to "The Courts"
Texas Ninth Court of Appeals (Beaumont)
ISD Bus-Related Wrongful Death Suit Dismissed
Upheld: A judge’s dismissal of a parental lawsuit against an ISD over the death of a young wheelchair bound student who died after losing consciousness while on a school bus for disabled students. Delameter, et al., v. Beaumont ISD, No. 09-17-00045-CV. Issued Feb. 1.
The child had been picked up from his home on a bus for disabled students that was staffed by the driver and an attendant.
The child was discovered to be nonresponsive after the bus had stopped to pick up another disabled student. The driver called the district and a summoned ambulance took the child to a hospital, where he died.
The parents of the student filed a wrongful death suit against BISD alleging (among other things) that: 1) the driver should have driven the bus to a hospital that was close to where the bus had stopped, 2) the bus driver and bus attendant had waited too long (based on a review of the bus video) to discover that the child had become nonresponsive and 3) the child and his wheelchair had been improperly secured, causing the child to experience a bumpy ride due to the bus taking a rough road.
BISD said the driver would have violated the district’s policy if he had diverted the bus to the hospital instead of waiting for the ambulance. The driver also testified that the route taken by the bus was not bumpy, except for some railroad tracks.
The trial judge agreed with BISD that the district is immune, under state law, from being sued over the parents’ claims.
A three-member Ninth Court panel agreed with the dismissal order because a governmental entity is immune from being sued (under state law) over motor vehicle related injuries, unless the injury directly resulted from the “operation or use” of a motor vehicle (such as the school bus).
None of the parents’ claims fall under the “operation or use” of a motor vehicle definition, the justices ruled.