Tragedy Averted After School Bus Crashes Into Home

Imagine sitting around the kitchen table, enjoying breakfast with your family and preparing for the day ahead. A normal, everyday morning – then, just as you’re leaving the kitchen, there is a sudden force that throws you to the floor, feeling as though something exploded right underneath your feet.

On March 24th, a regular Tuesday morning, a school bus crushed into the front room of a home, a terrifying incident that could have ended in tragedy. At 7:45 in the morning, the owners of the Pennsylvania home, the Laffertys, along with one of their daughters, had just left the room mere seconds before the bus came crushing through the front room of the house.
Thankfully, despite how close they were to the impact, the owners of the home were simply pushed to the ground by the force of the impact, and the eleven children on the bus also escaped the crash with no injuries. The bus was not removed from the house until 12:30 on the same day as the workers needed the time to shore up the house in order to prevent a collapse when the bus was removed.

What happens now? The Laffertys were an innocent family, who were simply looking forward to starting their day, like any other – who is then liable for the damage done to their home? Would it be the bus driver? Reports indicate that the driver seemed to have suffered a medical issue that may have caused the crash: witnesses stated that the “driver looked absolutely lethargic” and the students on the bus stated that the driver started “hyperventilating and hit the gas pedal before the crash”.

Or perhaps the driver’s employers should be held liable? An employer is liable for damages caused by their employees, if they happen while the employee is acting within the scope of his employment. Whoever is responsible, it certainly is not the Laffertys.