Legal news for Minnesota wrongful death attorneys. Family of woman killed in I-90 bus accident filed a civil lawsuit.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed against Bold Lines and bus driver, Edwin Erikson, cites the fatal crash on Interstate 90.
Albert Lea, MN—A wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the family member of a Plainview woman who was killed in a 2009 bus crash on Interstate 90, just west of Austin. The lawsuit named the bus driver, Edwin Erickson, and the bus company, Bold Lines (doing business as Strain Tours in Rochester), as reported by the Post-Bulletin.
Rhonda Hill, 52, was fatally injured during the November 18th bus crash. The Strain Tours bus was returning from an Iowa casino when the bus suddenly veered across the median in Freeborn County and overturned onto its side in a ditch. The wreck killed both Hill and another passenger, Pamela Holmquist, 56, of Kasson. Twenty other passengers, which consisted of mostly senor citizens, were injured as a result.
Levi Hill, 18, who is Rhonda’s son, filed the civil complaint on January 27, 2010 in Freeborn District Court in Albert Lea, which is seeking $50,000. The suit contends that Erickson, 52, failed to maintain control of the bus, and was driving in a “careless, reckless and negligent manner causing it to leave the roadway and crash.” The litigation alleges that Erickson was “unfit to drive and transport passengers at the time of he crash and the company was negligent by entrusting the bus to Erickson.”
Bold Lines filed a counter suit, which is asking the judge to dismiss the complaint. The bus company contends “Edwin Erickson sustained a medical condition, not of his own making, which constituted a sudden medical emergency under Minnesota law… the crash occurred because of a ‘sudden and unforeseen medical emergency’ and that the emergency rile under state law precludes any liability on the part of the defendants. The suit further asserts “Erickson was duly fit, competent, adequately trained and supervised driver at the time of the crash.”
The Freeborn County Attorney stated in December that no criminal charges will be pressed against the bus driver because he lost consciousness due to the “rapid onset of an undiagnosed medical condition.”
Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for wrongful death lawyers.
