Less than a week after six people died after a Greyhound bus ran into an overturned SUV on Highway 99, the first lawsuit in the case has already been filed.
Aside from blaming Greyhound, six of the surviving bus passengers allege several people are responsible for the crash, including both the bus and SUV drivers, as well as a Fresno woman named Elsabeth Giorgis ... whose Honda CRV was forced off the road during the crash. She was the only driver to survive. Giorgis' attorney, Monrae English, says the filing is pre-mature. "Filing a lawsuit without having the facts, it just probably would have been a little prudent to have waited and understood what the facts are in this case."
The California Highway Patrol has already determined the 18-year-old driver in the overturned SUV was drunk at the time. The bus driver was not. English says her client was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. "There's an acknowledgement that the bus forced my client off the road, but there's some inconsistencies about filing a lawsuit against somebody but acknowledging she was not at fault to begin with."
Action News legal analyst Tony Capozzi agrees. He says the suit was filed too early. Still, with a number of witnesses, victims, and ongoing media attention, he expects more attorneys will get involved ... and do the same. "To me, its lawyers racing to the courtroom to see who can get there first, get some of these clients signed up and get to the courtroom and get some publicity. That's what they're looking for, those who have the money to be able to pay and compensate for any damages that may have been caused in this case."
