Chicago Sun Times 10-16-2014

4 Chicago residents sue over bus crash

Octover 16, 2014
By Liam Ford

Four Chicagoans who were returning from a Bears game in Atlanta when the Megabus they were on crashed in Indiana sued the bus company Wednesday, claiming malfunctioning wipers contributed to the crash.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County court against Megabus USA LLC, seeks more than $100,000 in damages for injuries suffered in the Tuesday crash by plaintiffs Bridget Humbert, Creighton Mims, Valerie Battle-Dugger, and Lennell Sorrells.

Eighteen people were taken to hospitals for treatment after the crash, and Sorrells was among the most seriously injured, Indiana State Police said.

The lawsuit claims Megabus failed to supervise its driver and maintain its equipment.

“The passengers reported hearing the bus driver complaint that the windshield wipers were not working, and it was difficult to see the road in the rain,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, Thomas Zimmerman, Jr., said in a statement.

The bus was going north on I-65 when it hit a car that had just crashed, sending the bus into a median barrier and causing it to overturn, state police said.

A spokesman for Megabus declined to comment on the lawsuit. “We continue to be focused on the passengers and their needs along with their families at this time,” Sean Hughes, a spokesman for Coach USA, which owns Megabus, said in an email.