A Tragic Bus Accident and an Alabama Supreme Court Decision Addressing Time Limitations on Claims
On Monday morning, November 21, 2006, a local school bus crashed over the railing of a Huntsville overpass and plunged to the ground below. That morning several students lost their lives. Many others suffered severe injuries. When I learned of the tragic crash that morning, I quickly turned on the television and saw images of the mangled bus. Seeing the bus and the distance it fell, it is amazing that so many students did survive. This crash was one of those tragedies that impacts an entire community.
Following the accident, both Federal and Alabama agencies conducted extensive investigations. The crash has resulted in a continuing discussion in Alabama concerning the safety of our children on school buses. Hopefully, these studies and discussions will eventually lead to positive safety changes.
As individuals, many of the students or their families pursued damage claims. I understand that the claims against the bus company and involved drivers have been settled. Along with those claims, some of the injured students also initially filed, and continue to pursue, specific claims against the bus manufacturer alleging that the bus itself was defective. Another group of injured students did not initially pursue product liability claims against the bus manufacturer. These other students only attempted to allege product liability claims after first resolving their claims against the bus company and involved drivers. Because this second group of students first alleged their product liability claims long after the tragic crash, the trial court ruled these additional claims had not been filed within the applicable statute of limitations and were barred.
The students appealed. This provided the Alabama Supreme Court an opportunity to discuss Alabama law concerning the time in which a personal injury claim involving a child must be filed. This post is certainly not a complete discussion concerning the limitations periods applicable to claims in Alabama. Many factors affect the specific limitations period available to file a given claim. As a result, an injured party should discuss their specific claim with an attorney as soon as possible. However, the opinion released by The Alabama Supreme Court on December 3 does provide a good discussion of claims involving an injury to a child and how different rules apply to them.
If a person is a child when their right to pursue a claim arises, then the statute of limitations generally does not begin to run until the age of majority (adulthood), which is 19 in Alabama. Again, this general rule is subject to certain other factors. However, because the students injured in the bus crash were under the age of 19 when it occurred, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled they had additional time to pursue their claims. This is an important reminder that if you suffered significant personal injury as a child and are now reaching adulthood, it may not be too late to pursue your claims.
