TEXARKANA — A civil lawsuit filed last week in Miller County seeks damages after a young boy suffered head and other injuries when the school van in which he was riding was struck and flipped.
Texarkana lawyer Matt Keil filed the suit Thursday on behalf of David and Carla Rowton of Fouke, individually and as parents of their 9-year-old son, who was 7 at the time of the collision. Named as defendants in the suit are Gayle Renfro of Texarkana, Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. and Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co.
According to the lawsuit, the Rowtons’ son was riding in a Southern Arkansas Christian School van when Renfro struck it and the van left the roadway, rolling onto its roof near South Rondo and Boyd roads in Texarkana. The school is in Lewisville.
The boy was partially ejected from the van, and his arm was pinned beneath it, according to the complaint. People who stopped at the accident scene were able to lift the van, and Carla Rowton was able to free her son from the wreckage, the complaint says.
The boy, who lost consciousness, was first taken to Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, and later moved to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. The boy suffered a head injury, lacerations to his hand and arm, and bruising of his lower extremities.
The head injury has resulted in impaired visual memory. The neurocognitive disorder is likely to result in difficulty with reading and vocabulary, the complaint says. To date, the Rowtons’ medical expenses reportedly exceed $90,000.
Renfro’s insurance limit for bodily injury is $50,000, and her insurer, State Farm, is willing to pay that amount. The Rowtons are insured under a Farm Bureau policy with a $100,000 maximum for under-insured motorist coverage. According to the complaint, Farm Bureau is refusing to pay the Rowtons’ claim but has consented to their acceptance of the $50,000 payout from State Farm under Renfro’s policy.
The school van is insured by Brotherhood Mutual, and the complaint says it has a $1 million maximum for under-insured motorist coverage for bodily injury. The complaint alleges that Brotherhood is not only refusing to pay under the school’s policy but that it has refused to give the Row-tons permission to accept the $50,000 being offered by State Farm under Renfro’s policy.
The complaint Keil filed on behalf of the Rowtons asks for compensatory damages from Renfro and both of the defendant insurance companies. The complaint alleges the insurance companies are guilty of breach of contract and that they should be ordered to pay what the policies allow for underinsured coverage.