About 20 civil lawsuits have been filed related to injuries suffered three years ago today when a bus carrying 45 University of Victoria students and two staff on a field trip to Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre crashed, killing two first-year students and injuring others.
Emma Machado, 18, of Winnipeg, and John Geerdes, 18, from Iowa City, Iowa, were killed on Sept. 13, 2019 when their Wilson’s Transportation bus slid off the gravel road to Bamfield and went down an embankment.
The civil notices of claim are not part of a class-action, though their claims for compensation are similar.
Victim Sarah Hunter, who sat behind the two students killed and started a petition calling for safety upgrades and paving for Bamfield Road, is represented by Ramsay Lampman Rhodes in Nanaimo, according to court documents. Magalie Eva McCormack is represented by Hemmerling Law in Kelowna, and Tabitha Baatz is represented by Acheson Sweeney Foley Sahota in Victoria.
Injuries cited include mild to moderate traumatic brain injury and post-concussive symptoms, broken bones, cuts and scarring, and post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Lawyer Rajinder Sahota said he represents about eight of the claimants.
“I would be shocked if any plaintiff is not dealing with ongoing PTSD, and survivor’s guilt — that’s been expressed to me by several of my clients — and the emotional consequences arising from this accident are as significant as you can imagine,” said Sahota.
Defendants include the University of Victoria, Wilson’s Transportation, bus driver Donald Middleton, Smith Transportation Limited, Western Forest Products, TFL 44 LP and TFL General Partner, the society doing business as Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, and the B.C. government via the Ministry of Transportation.
UVic has not filed its defence but said Monday “work on our responses is in progress and will be filed once completed.”
Wilson’s Transportation in court documents says “the accident and any resulting injury, loss, damage or expense sustained by the plaintiff were not caused or contributed to by any fault or blameworthiness on the part of Wilson’s Transportation and Wilson’s Transportation is not vicariously or otherwise liable for any such injury, loss, damage or expense.” Wilson’s says its bus was “roadworthy, and appropriately and adequately maintained” but says “the accident occurred in whole or in part due to a defect arising from the inadequate design, construction, or maintenance of the road.”
Western Forest Products Inc., TFL 44 LP and TFL 44 General Partner Inc., in response to a claim by bus crash victim Alexander Hoffman-Ellis, “deny each and every allegation of fact contained in the claim.”
The Crown claims users of Bamfield Road “were warned with signage that the Road was not a public road, that it was an industrial road and an active logging road, and that users should “Use Extreme Caution.”
The province in its response points out the driver “failed to instruct the occupants of the bus to wear the seat belt assemblies provided.”
In court documents from Feb. 22, 2022, Middleton, the bus driver, represented by lawyer Alison Murray, denies that the crash was caused or contributed to by any negligence on his part. His notice said the headlights of an oncoming vehicle “blinded or otherwise interfered with his view of the roadway and caused or contributed to the accident.”
The claims are expected to take four to five years to resolve.
None of the claims has yet been proven in court.
