Beasley Allen lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of a 6-year-old girl who was killed in a Georgia school bus crash. She was ejected from her school bus, which then rolled over on her, in January 2018. The family of Arlana Haynes is represented by Beasley Allen’s Kendall Dunson and Donovan Potter, Sr. along with David Dozier of the Dozier Law Firm and Richard Sizemore of Clark, Smith & Sizemore.
“The defendant’s greed and complete disregard for human life resulted in a young child never returning home to her family,” said Dunson. “Blue Bird Global Corporation failed to make its product safe and failed to warn the public about the danger. Sadly, our client’s young daughter paid the price for the defendant’s failures.”
On Jan. 29, 2018, Arlana, a first-grader, was riding on a school bus on her way home from Parkwood Elementary School. The bus was heading downhill and approaching a curve. Despite the bus driver’s efforts to steer the 2000 Blue Bird All American school bus, its top-heavy design caused the bus to slide off the road and begin to roll over onto its right side. As a result of the bus rollover, Arlana was violently thrown from her seat and ejected through the bus front door. Arlana was rushed to the hospital where she succumbed to her fatal injuries hours later just after midnight.
“We will never be able to change the outcome of this tragedy or ease the pain of such a loss for Arlana’s family, but we can hold the defendant accountable for its negligence,” said Dozier.
The defendant, Blue Bird Global Corporation, knew that the bus was dangerous, the complaint alleges, because it was unstable and prone to rolling over due to its design. Prior to Arlana’s death, the defendant had fought other lawsuits for years, so it was well aware that the dangerously designed bus was injuring and killing unsuspecting passengers.
The plaintiff also explained that the defendant knew if the bus rolled over then unbelted students could be violently ejected from their seats, thrown out the door and rolled over by the bus – the circumstances that occurred in the plaintiff’s case.
“It is important for the public to know the dangerous nature of this type of school bus,” said Sizemore. “Pursuing a claim like this allows us and our client to raise awareness, which we hope will lead to changes that prevent needless deaths like our client’s daughter.”
The complaint is filed in The State Court of Bibb County, Georgia, case number 20-SCCV-090917.
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