A woman hit by a Bentonville school bus three years ago while crossing a busy street received a $35,000 settlement after filing a lawsuit against the school district’s insurance carrier, the woman’s attorney said.
Megan Davis was 17 years old and a Bentonville High School student at the time of the accident. She suffered broken bones and a traumatic brain injury and was required to undergo multiple surgeries and hospitalizations for several months at specialized care facilities in Missouri and Texas, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit against National Interstate Insurance Co. was filed Sept. 30 in Benton County Circuit Court. It was settled during the second week of November, said Davis’ attorney, Alan Lane of the Odom Law Firm in Fayetteville.
The insurance company had denied the Davis family’s claim for compensation, according to the lawsuit. A copy of the district’s policy shows the insurance carrier would pay a maximum of $100,000 for a single accident or loss.
“There were some negotiations,” Lane said. “I think from the insurance carrier standpoint, they realized the most they could ever be forced to pay was $100,000. They would likely spend somewhere around that amount in defending the claim.”
The Davis family also realized the potential payoff was not worth the expenses and stress associated with a trial, he said.
Cotten Cunningham, a Little Rock attorney who represented the insurance company in the case, did not return phone or email messages seeking comment.
The Bentonville School District wasn’t named as a party in the lawsuit. Arkansas school districts are immune from liability and from being sued for damages except to the extent they may be covered by liability insurance.
The district was not aware of the settlement and case dismissal until after it was finalized, and the district’s attorney received a courtesy notice from the insurer’s attorney, Superintendent Michael Poore said.
Davis could not be reached for comment. She is pursuing a college degree, Lane said. He declined to say what school she attends.
“She is doing OK,” he said. “She has permanent medical issues and other issues she has to deal with. She’s not sitting around and moaning and groaning and looking for sympathy. She’s doing the best she can trying to move forward with her life, and that’s why she wanted to put [the lawsuit] behind her.”
Davis was hit by a bus traveling east on Southeast 14th Street in Bentonville on Oct. 4, 2012. She was crossing at a crosswalk with signals but no painted street marking at the intersection of Southeast P Street.
Lisa Fitzner was driving the bus with 24 students on it at the time of the accident. A district report issued the next week stated Fitzner looked in her rear-view mirror to speak to a student while approaching the intersection of Southeast 14th and Southeast P streets. The bus entered the intersection at 34 mph, according to a Bentonville police report.
Bentonville police said Fitzner had a green light because of an emergency pre-emption system triggered by an ambulance traveling in the same direction. The system wouldn’t have signaled anyone to walk across the street in that case, police said.
A few witnesses on the scene, however, disputed the Police Department’s account, according to a 2012 report in the Benton County Daily Record. The witnesses said traffic was stopped in all directions, and Davis had a signal indicating she was free to cross. The lawsuit cited these witnesses’ account and also argued that there were no cars on the road that Davis could have reasonably anticipated might pose a danger to her.
A button used by pedestrians to alert the intersection’s traffic signal that someone is trying to cross 14th Street was broken at the time of the accident. Pedestrians could stick an object such as a pen into the pole to make the signal work, however.
Davis found herself in a “crack in the system” after the accident because districts are not required to carry more than $25,000 in insurance coverage, Lane said.
“Buses can do a lot of damage, so all school buses are underinsured if they cause significant harm or loss,” Lane said.
“I don’t know what a million-dollar liability policy would cost districts to keep, but if your kid is hit like [Davis], it’d be a small price to pay.”