Charleston-area residents file suit in Miss. bus crash

Five Charleston-area residents who were in a Harrah's Casino bus crash Aug. 10 in Tunica, Miss., have filed a joint lawsuit against several companies and the bus driver.

Michael Wayne Causby, of James Island, and North Charleston residents James R. Smith, Stephen Craig Reed, Alvin John Freshwater and Danny Keith Freshwater were injured in the wreck and are plaintiffs in the suit, said attorney Kevin Dean of Motley Rice.

The bus was shuttling 42 South Carolinians to Tunica airport for a return flight to Charleston when it crashed, killing three people and injuring dozens.

None of the plaintiffs are related to the dead passen- gers.

The lawsuit gives some insight into the rainy-day, single-vehicle wreck, at least from Dean's perspective.

The bus was driven through standing water, which caused the vehicle to hydroplane, the lawsuit claims. It said the bus fishtailed, rotated clockwise, ran into a grassy median, overturned on its right side and rolled.

"He (the bus driver) was speeding in a heavy downpour in an intersection that had standing water," Dean said, adding that the four rear tires of the bus were in poor condition and that two of them were bald.

Dean said his clients have significant injuries that included broken bones, and one of them suffered facial disfigurement.

The defendants include: the casino; Casino Express LLC, which organized the trip from Charleston; Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which owns the bus; Larry D. Williams, the bus driver; and four companies that either manufactured or assembled parts of the bus, Dean said.

Those four companies include Freightliner Corp., Daimler Trucks North America LLC., Glaval Bus, and Forest River Inc.

The attorney said the broader issue of the suit is what he claims are faults with the bus.

The four companies were negligent because they failed to properly "design, install, test and inspect the bus' roof structure and side window components, including installation of laminated glass, and failed to properly design, install, test and inspect a proper passenger seat belt system," the suit said.

A Harrah's spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.

Reach Nadine Parks at 937-5573 or nparks@postandcourier.com.