Family Of Man Struck By School Bus Receives Settlement After Wrongful Death Lawsuit

High school students start to feel like adults when they can drive themselves to school, their phones connected to the car’s audio system and blaring music that no parent or bus driver would ever tolerate for the entire duration of the ride from home to school.  You can only get to that point by convincing an unsmiling employee of the DMV that you are cautious enough to obey traffic rules and avoid hazards.  For example, you must know that, when a school bus displays its stop sign as students get on or off the bus, traffic in both directions must stop and wait.  The level of caution and awareness of potential hazards is even greater if you want to be licensed as a school bus driver.  The speeding school bus driver with a wild streak is a popular trope in movies and TV, but in real life, if school bus drivers drive recklessly, the results are disastrous.  The family of a man killed in a school bus accident in South Carolina just received a wrongful death settlement in excess of $1.5 million.  If you have been injured in an accident involving a school bus, contact a Columbia car accident lawyer.

Distracted Bus Driver Caused Fatal Accident

In September 2019, Ulysses Cartez Gary, Jr. had just finished dropping off students at the last bus stop on his afternoon school bus route in Laurens County.  He was driving on Highway 101, doing what too many drivers used to do before the COVID lockdowns made us reevaluate our relationship with technology, namely, he was scrolling through Facebook posts on his phone.  At about 4:40 p.m., the bus crossed the center lane and struck a car head on.  The driver of the car, Herman Alexander Black, died at the scene of the accident.  He was 55 years old, a father of three young adults, and a pastor at a local church.

Gary was charged with involuntary manslaughter for causing the accident that claimed Black’s life.  He pleaded guilty in December 2023 and is currently serving a prison sentence.  Black’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Laurens County School District which employed Gary.  In September 2024, the school district agreed to pay the victim’s family a settlement of $1,525,000.  Most personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits settle without going to trial.

If the at fault driver in a fatal accident pleads guilty, as Gary did in this case, it counts in the plaintiff’s favor in a civil lawsuit.  If the case goes to trial, the plaintiff still has a chance of prevailing, even if the defendant pleaded no contest, was acquitted, or had the charges dropped, or even if there were no criminal charges at all.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you pursue a lawsuit after a school bus accident.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Sources:

wyff4.com/article/settlement-lawsuit-school-bus-crash-deadly/62072340

wyff4.com/article/troopers-report-injuries-in-school-bus-crash-on-highway-101-in-laurens-county/28971502