City to Pay $3.5 Million in Fatal Bus Mishap

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to pay $3.5 million to settle a group of lawsuits filed after two boys were killed when a malfunctioning city trash truck crashed into their school bus.

The total settlement in the 18 lawsuits was $8.2 million, but the city is sharing that amount with Inland White GMC, which sold the trash truck to the city, and with Amrep Corp., the truck manufacturer, city officials said.

The December 1995 crash occurred at Temple and Alvarado streets, when the hydraulic piston on the trash truck punctured the school bus, slicing its windows and killing two 8-year-old boys dozing side by side, seriously injuring another boy, and spraying other children with shattered glass.

The 38 plaintiffs include the families of the two boys, who will receive $2.5 million each; the family of another boy who sustained a brain injury and fractured skull in the crash, who will receive $1.3 million; as well as 33 other schoolchildren who were on the bus traveling to school, who will split $1.5 million. The bus driver will receive $400,000 for emotional distress, and the driver of a car traveling in front of the bus at the time of the early morning crash will receive $25,000.

“It was a devastating accident,” said Dan Woodard, the city attorney who handled the cases for the city. “No one can go away from this feeling good about any part of it.”

Investigations of the crash revealed that the truck had been flagged for mechanical problems, but that a supervisor allowed the truck on the streets. It also was discovered that the trash truck driver failed to perform a pre-trip inspection of the vehicle. In addition, it was disclosed that a top Los Angeles maintenance supervisor repeatedly had complained about the city’s trash trucks, but that his concerns were largely ignored.

Attorneys on both sides said Wednesday that they were pleased to settle out of court--without a jury trial that could have led to significantly higher verdicts against the city.

“The loss of life is difficult to compensate,” said Steve Lerman, who is representing the mother of Brian Serrano, killed in the crash, and Mario Garay, the boy who sustained the head injury. “All the parties worked together over a long period of time to find a reasonable agreement without a runaway jury verdict.”

Similarly, lead counsel Paul Kiesel who is representing the family of Francisco Mata, who died in the accident, called it “the best possible settlement.”

“The City Council woke up and decided to pay $3.5 million instead of $25 million” that a jury could have awarded, Kiesel said.

The attorneys said the families of the two boys, who were close friends, are pleased to have the case over, but they will never get over their losses.

“Every day this case was open was like an open wound for them,” Kiesel said. “Having closure was very important.”

Brian’s mother, Maria, remains deeply depressed by the death of her only son, Lerman said. She visits his grave regularly, “talks about him in the present tense” and remains devastated by his death, the attorney said.

Mario, a cousin of Serrano’s who was raised with the boy, has returned to school and probably will need some specialized care, Lerman said.

City Council members said the accident was a tragedy and that they were pleased the companies were included in paying a share of the settlement.

“It was a tragic loss,” said Councilman Nate Holden. “It was mutual negligence. They were negligent and so were we.”

The City Council also agreed to pay out $1 million in five lawsuits, mostly involving injuries caused by irregularities in sidewalks. However, the largest of those, $415,000, went to the family of a 35-year-old killed while driving his motorcycle. His family alleged that his fatal accident occurred because overgrown weeds on a city median obscured his vision.