When the bus carrying 27 Montana prison employees rolled and crashed on Interstate 90 near Warm Springs, the fiberglass body of the bus disintegrated. The framework was crushed like a shoebox, and it’s actually a miracle more people were not killed in the wreckage. When the wreckage had been cleared, one woman was killed, and 26 others were injured in the crash.

Now Jaime Ryan, the daughter of Sonja Ryan, the woman who was killed, is suing the bus company. She has filed a wrongful death complaint seeking unspecified damages.

The accident occurred on November 16, 2007, and was traced to the bus swerving to avoid a deer nearly a mile north of the Glen exit. The out-of-control bus rolled over before coming to a rest on its side. The impact of the crash was deadly, with the framework being crushed beyond recognition. It took two tow trucks to straighten the wreckage sufficiently enough for it to be towed away.

The bus was a 30-seater 2007 Diamond Coach bus and was reportedly new. The company that owned the bus at the time of the accident, Tucker Transportation, insisted that safety had been paramount to the company.

It really couldn’t have been that paramount after all if the bus could just collapse like a house of cards after rolling over. Pictures of the wreckage showed what looked like a toy bus that had been taken apart. The other occupants of the bus were extremely fortunate.

The case is reported to be at a preliminary hearing. At least three other lawsuits have been filed in the case, including those by Douglas Jager, Kevin Hart, Mathew Montez Michael Fuller and Richard Smith Marvin LaTray. The reasons for the bus disintegration are being looked into at this point in time.

However, there is some evidence that safe guards in the bus were sorely lacking. The complaints indicate that there were no restraints, and there was no roll bar. This lack of safety measures is seen to have caused the kind of damage that was seen after the crash.

Ryan’s lawsuit cites the driver’s negligence and carelessness as the cause of the accident. Only Tucker Transportation has been named as a defendant. Jaime Ryan is seeking survival damages for her mother’s estate.

If you have been injured in a bus accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.