Bus Crash Case Moved Out of L.A.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered the first of more than a dozen lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of a Mono County tour bus crash to be tried near the scene of the accident in Bishop.

Judge John Zebrowski granted the state Department of Transportation’s request to move the case out of the Los Angeles County court system, despite protests that most of the surviving family members and witnesses are Los Angeles residents.

Twenty-one elderly passengers were killed and 22 others injured on May 30 when a Starline Sightseeing Tours bus plunged into the Walker River on U.S. 395 about 90 miles south of Reno. Most of those aboard the bus were on their way back to a Santa Monica retirement home after a four-day gambling outing.

Attorney Kevin R. McLean, re-presenting Robert Roesger, accused the state of “forum shopping” in its bid to transfer the case--and others whose venue will likely be determined by the outcome--to Mono County.

“It’s very simple. Juries up in Mono County aren’t used to the kind of (large) verdicts we have down here. The state’s perception is the value of the case would be less in Mono County,” said McLean, of the law offices of Melvin Belli, in an interview.

George L. Cory, counsel for Caltrans, conceded that “Mono County is probably more conservative than L.A. County in terms of verdicts,” but said the state’s request was made primarily because many of the state’s witnesses, including Caltrans maintenance workers, live in Mono County.

Caltrans is a minor defendant in the cases, which accuse the state of faulty road maintenance but name Starline and the bus driver as primary defendants. The venue change was granted under a provision of state law that requires lawsuits against the state to be heard in the county in which the injury occurred.

Motions for changes of venue on three other cases stemming from the crash are scheduled to be heard today.