Settlement reached in crash

Friday, July 26, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Injured passengers and relatives of eight people killed in the Christmas Eve 1998 crash of a casino-bound bus on the Garden State Parkway will split $15 million under an agreement that settles 14 lawsuits.

The two companies that leased the bus to Bruins Transportation agreed to share the cost of claims filed in New Jersey and New York City under a settlement announced Thursday. Bruins and its insurer went out of business.

Firstar Corp., Cargill Leasing and their subsidiaries, which were in the process of selling the bus when the crash happened, did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.

"These people were passengers on a bus who did nothing wrong," said the companies' attorney, Lorenzo Bryan. "You have to try to be fair to them, but there is also a business decision to be made."

In the only New Jersey case, Louis Weiss, 77, will receive $1.7 million for his own injuries and the trauma of watching his wife, Shirley, die on the side of the highway.

Settlement amounts vary from a few hundred thousand dollars for those with less severe injuries to several million dollars for injured passengers who lost spouses and to a woman who had to have a leg amputated.

The bus, carrying 23 mostly elderly passengers from Brooklyn to Atlantic City, skidded across three lanes of traffic and tumbled down an embankment a rest area in Sayreville. Light snow had fallen before the crash.

Last month, a grand jury declined to indict the driver on vehicular homicide charges. Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch said jurors concluded Valentin Viner, 55, was at fault did not find his conduct was reckless, a requirement for criminal charges.