A jury in Philadelphia has found Greyhound is liable in the amount of $5.05 million to four claimants injured when a Greyhound bus collided with a tractor trailer in central Pennsylvania. Following a six week trial the jury awarded $3.05 in compensatory damages and an additional $2 million in rarely awarded punitive damages. The award of punitive damages is to punish and serve as a deterrent to Greyhound for "outrageous" conduct that was the factual cause of the crash.
Led counsel for the plaintiffs, Jon Ostroff, said in commenting on the verdict that "Greyhound must update and enforce its driver safety rules and fatigue management policies or these preventable, catastrophic, fatigue-related crashes will continue, ... The testimony of CEO David Leach made it clear that even after 102 years as the largest and oldest interstate bus carrier in the US, Greyhound places profit above the safety of its passengers."
Due to organizational changes implemented by Leach the Safety department was essentially demoted so that its' Director no longer reported directly to him while he still continued to receive direct reports from the Directors of Greyhound's finance and marketing departments. Ostroff stated that "Until Greyhound is restructured and safety is given adequate priority and oversight, particularly with respect to fatigue management of its drivers and enforcement of its safety rules, these fatigue-related highway crashes will likely continue. Greyhound’s passengers, including our clients, deserve better. A tired driver behind the wheel of a 40-ton bus filled with 49 passengers is a recipe for this type of disaster.”
Ostroff called on the government to intervene and create regulations to prevent these fatigue related crashes from continuing to happen. He also stated that "It is clear that if safety, including proper training and management of its drivers continues to be left in the hands of Greyhound without industry oversight, passengers will continue to be at risk.”
Read More >>
No comments:
Post a Comment