The parents of an eighth-grade girl killed in the Tennessee school bus crash last month filed a $5-million wrongful death lawsuit alleging distraction and recklessness on the part of the driver and negligence and lack of oversight on the part of the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.
Zoe Davis was 13 and a student at Kenwood Middle School when she died in the March 27 collision. Her classmate Arianna Peterson, 13, also died.
The lawsuit filed April 2 calls for a jury trial and seeks the maximum dollar amount allowed but not to exceed $5 million plus court costs.
Tennessee tort law generally caps the amount a school district can be held liable for at $700,000 for bodily injury or death of all persons in any one accident or $300,000 for any one person. School district employees are immune from lawsuits including those involving negligent operation of motor vehicles, unless proven that the employee failed “to exercise or perform a discretionary function, whether or not the discretion is abused.”
The Davis family’s lawsuit names school bus driver Sabrina Ducksworth. The lawsuit claims she failed to follow her training and “acted with less than and/or failed to act with ordinary and reasonable care in the operation of the school bus.”
The filing also claims Ducksworth operated her school bus while fatigued or distracted and failed to exercise due care, obey traffic laws and keep in the proper lane.
Investigation Continues Amid Lawsuit
The Tennessee Highway Patrol and the National Transportation Safety Board continue to investigate. NTSB said on its website a preliminary report is expected by the end of this month. Duckworth reportedly remains hospitalized following several surgeries. School Transportation News learned Duckworth broke both of her legs and suffered internal injuries.
Ducksworth’s family told local reporters she may have suffered a stroke when the school bus veered across a double yellow line, into the oncoming lane and collided nearly head-on with a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck. A local news report also indicates a review of Duckworth’s personnel file shows a current prescription for blood pressure medication. She had driven for Clarksville-Montgomery County School System since July 2021.
The Davis family’s lawsuit also claims the school district did not perform an adequate pre-employment inquiry into Ducksworth’s fitness for employment as a school bus driver and that the hiring practices “fell below the applicable standard of care.” The lawsuit also alleges the school district failed to adequately train or supervise Ducksworth.
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