Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Attorney Blog
Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal has reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a school bus driver who, against district policy, advised students to cross a busy road in the dark before the bus arrived at their stop each morning. One of those students was struck by a car while crossing the street early one morning before school.
According to court records in Davis v. Baez, plaintiff was an 18-year-old senior in high school in the Miami-Dade County school district. She was hit by a car while she was crossing from the west side of the street to get to the east side of the street, where her school bus stop was located. It was 5:50 a.m., so it was still dark, and the bus hadn’t yet arrived. Plaintiff suffered severe injuries as a result of the collision.
Her 16-year-old brother, who also waited at the stop with her, had already safely crossed by that point. But both children had previously been instructed by the school bus driver that they needed to cross the busy street – from the west side to the east side – to be waiting for him on the east side before he arrived. If they weren’t already on that side of the street when he pulled up, the driver told them, he would leave without them. Continue reading →