Negligence, Bus Defect Claimed : Ski Trip Chaperon Sues Over Bus Crash Injuries

A chaperon injured in a bus accident in Utah while on a ski trip sponsored by the Capistrano Unified School District filed suit Tuesday, claiming that driver negligence and a bus defect caused his injuries.

Jay Christopher Morris, 33, contends in his Orange County Superior Court suit that the conduct of six defendants led to an injured right shoulder, fractured right arm, crushed right wrist and nerve damage that could end his career as a Costa Mesa police officer.

SH2 Students Killed

Morris’ lawyer, Charles D. Naylor of San Pedro, said Morris would not have been injured if the tour bus had been equipped with seat belts on its airline-style seats.

Two high school students were killed and the driver and 45 other students were injured last April 21 when the bus, one of six returning from ski vacation in Steamboat Springs, Colo., went out of control, spun around, skidded into a median on Interstate 15 and rolled over.

Last Sept. 21, the family of one student, Byron Jack Hearne, who was killed in the accident, sued the school district, the co-sponsoring Boy Scouts of America, driver Samuel Lee Payton and the charter group, Pinetree Services Corp., also known as California Charter Inc.

Morris’ suit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the same defendants as well as the bus manufacturer, Motor Coach Industries, and the seller, Houseman Bus Sales.