Monterey Bus Accident Victims File Lawsuits

32 French tourists who were injured, as well as the survivors of two other passengers who died in a tour bus accident in Soledad, California in April have filed lawsuits against the tour bus company and the organizers of the trip.

The lawsuit which was filed in Monterey County Superior Court names several French and Canadian travel companies that arranged the tour. The charter bus company that provided the bus which crashed, Brea-based Orion Pacific has also been named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Besides, the estate of John Egnew, the bus driver who was killed in the crash, has also been named in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs include 32 French tourists who were injured, many of them seriously, as well as family members of two tourists who died when the bus crashed into a concrete wall and overturned. Survivors of two other tourists who were killed will also eventually be added to the lawsuit.

The bus was carrying 34 French tourists, a Canadian tour guide and the bus driver John Egnew. The bus crashed into a wall and flipped over, throwing several of the passengers as well as the bus driver out of the bus, and onto a road below. They died instantly. Rescue operations were hampered by the fact that the accident took place on a desolate highway. Several of the injured had to be airlifted to the hospital with critical injuries. Since the bus accident, these people have had to spend several days in Monterey hospitals as they received treatment for their injuries.

According to the attorney for the plaintiffs who’s also the attorney for the French consulate in San Francisco, all the survivors of the bus accident have returned home to France, where some of them are still hospitalized for their injuries. According to the lawsuit, several passengers were “seriously injured and suffered severe orthopedic and neurological injuries”. At least one victim had lost an arm in the accident. The tour names Capitalese Tours, a French tour operator and Contact Amerique, a Canadian company that specializes in conducting international tours. According to the lawsuit, the tour organizers were negligent by their failure to ensure the safety of the group. Egnew had previously been involved in a serious accident, and the tour organizers should have been aware of this fact. The lawsuit alleged that the 69-year-old driver “did not process sufficient skills and stamina” to make the 2000-mile trip.

In 2005, Egnew had been involved in a pedestrian accident in Las Vegas when his bus struck a 71-year-old woman who was crossing the street. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor traffic violation. The woman in that accident suffered serious injuries, including a broken pelvis and brain damage. She later settled with the bus company for $750,000. However, as we reported earlier on our blog, the California Department of Motor Vehicles had no information about Egnew’s involvement in the Las Vegas pedestrian accident. His traffic violation misdemeanor there was not reflected in DMV records.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of bus accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.