An Indiana district court judge recently ruled that the lawsuit filed last year by a parent against Franklin Township Community School Corporation regarding charging parents school bus fees can be designated as a class action.
Marion County Superior Court Judge Theodore Sosin on June 18 examined the class-action petition filed by the attorneys representing Lora Hoagland and ruled that the petition holds merit. Under the lawsuit, Hoagland, a mother of two boys who ride the bus, is seeking restored school bus service with no additional fees and restitution for the money she and other parents have spent taking their kids to and from school during the 2011-2012 academic year.
The decision means that two classes of plaintiffs are certified under the lawsuit. One class includes all parents or guardians of students enrolled in Franklin Township Public Schools who have paid bus fees. A second class includes parents or guardians who have not paid bus fees but whose children would have ridden the bus to a Franklin Township public school after Aug. 1, 2011, except for the bus fees. Hoagland represents those who have not paid while another parent represents those who have paid.
Tom Blessing, one of the attorneys representing Hoagland and other parents, said the next step is to send notices to all parents affected that them they can be part of the class action or opt out.
Meanwhile, a trail date has already been scheduled for Feb. 12, 2013, Blessing told School Transportation News. In the meantime, he said presently there is no specific timeframe for parents to opt out of the class-action lawsuit.
“That will be up to the judge,” he said. “[Parents] will be given a ‘reasonable’ time to opt out, but the specific number of days is unknown at this point.”
The original hearing date to determine the class-action status was scheduled for Jan. 4 and was rescheduled a few times before the June 18 date. Hoagland’s attorneys first filed the lawsuit on Nov. 2 and filed a petition for class-action status later that month.
Then this year, Gov. Mitch Daniels singed into law two bills that change Franklin Township’s transportation policies and prevents other districts from implementing such a policy in the future. Those bills go into effect July 1.
Blessing said the two new bills do not affect anything related to the lawsuit.
“We’re still seeking compensation for parents who either paid the bus fees or had to make other arrangements to get their children to school in 2011-2012,” he told STN in March.
Meanwhile, Franklin Township held a job fair earlier this month as the district sought new bus drivers and monitors.
