Families settle with Seward schools over deadly bus accident

SEWARD (AP) - The families of those killed and injured in a school bus crash west of Omaha 16 months ago reached a $5 million settlement with the Seward Public Schools.

Fifteen families and eight attorneys agreed to the settlement, and a Seward County court approved the agreement Thursday.

Four people were killed - including three Seward students - and 27 injured Oct. 13, 2001, when a Seward school bus carrying band students and chaperones hit a guard rail at a road construction site and plunged 60 feet into a creek bed.

The district made the $5 million settlement offer, which represents the district's insurance coverage limit and the cap set by state law in such cases. That money will be divvied up among the 15 families, but a confidentiality agreement will keep the various amounts paid to the families from being disclosed, said Lincoln attorney Steven Gealy, who represents the school district.

The agreement settled all 19 claims against the school district, Gealy said.

The district admitted no liability for the accident as part of the settlement.

Reaching a settlement kept the claimants from competing against each other in court for limited money, Omaha attorney James Martin Davis told the Lincoln Journal-Star.

"Any one person could have vetoed this deal. That would have derailed the whole settlement," said Davis, who represented some of the families.

Davis and Gealy credited the lawyers and families for quick resolution of the case.

"Getting that number of lawyers to agree on a case like this is a little surprising," Gealy said. "But it really, honestly has renewed my faith in this profession."

Some people chose not to file claims because they felt others were in greater need, Gealy said.

The settlement against the district, however, does not spell an end to legal wrangling over the crash.

More than $29 million in claims had been filed over the crash by last fall, and claims are still pending against the state and road construction company, Gealy said.

A settlement similar to the one with the Seward school district is being sought with the state, Davis said.

The National Transportation Safety Board has said driver experience and road design were contributing factors in the crash, but assigned no blame. A final report has not been issued.