Las Vegas Sun

February 12, 2012

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courts:

Fatal crash of bus carrying casino workers prompts lawsuit

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AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

A police officer examines the wreckage of a bus that crashed into the concrete dividers on Interstate 15 in Las Vegas, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008. The bus was carrying employees of Primm Valley Casino Resorts.

By (contact)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 | 10:47 a.m.

Sun coverage

A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed over the crash last August of a charter bus carrying casino workers from Primm to Las Vegas.

Attorney Robert Massi filed the suit in Clark County District Court on Monday against the bus owner, Alan Waxler Group Charter Services LLC; its manufacturer, Bus and Coach International; tire maker Michelin North America Inc.; and the bus driver.

Massi is suing on behalf of Debra Meier, Ronald Coomes and Richard Coomes. Their mother, Margaret Guier, died Jan. 8 at the age of 73 of injuries suffered in the accident on Aug. 10, Massi said.

Police at the time said 29 people were hospitalized after the bus crashed on a Sunday night on I-15 near St. Rose Parkway as it was heading northbound to take workers home from their shifts at the casinos in Primm. The vehicle veered off the roadway and crashed into the southbound guardrail, ending up in the dirt median. NHP investigators at the time said tire failure may have caused the accident.

The suit said Guier, a restaurant cashier at Buffalo Bill's hotel-casino, suffered fatal head and neck injuries in the crash.

None of the defendants have responded to the lawsuit. An official at Alan Waxler Group referred questions to an official at an insurance company, who could not immediately be reached for comment.

The lawsuit suggests improper weight distribution in the bus could have contributed to a tire being overloaded, possibly causing its failure.

The lawsuit says that three days after the crash, the Nevada Highway Patrol inspected seven identical buses and found six had "massive weight distribution problems resulting in an excess amount of pressure being placed on one side of the bus.''

The suit says that in September, the bus manufacturer issued an alert saying the load problem could cause excessive tire wear and potentially a crash.

Alan Waxler Group is accused of negligently operating and maintaining the vehicle and of failing to correct the weight distribution problem. The manufacturer is accused of selling vehicles with weight distribution problems, Michelin is accused of selling defective tires and the driver is accused of failing to maintain control of the bus.

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