Judge rejects lawsuit against tour company, bus manufacturer involved in 2014 Coquihalla crash
The driver and tour operators have admitted liability in the accident
Part of a lawsuit arising from a 2014 tour bus crash on the Coquihalla Highway south of Merritt, B.C., has been rejected by a Supreme Court of B.C. judge.
More than 55 people were injured when the bus rolled onto its side, throwing some passengers through the coach windows.
The driver of the bus, Brian Spittal, and his employer, Western Bus Lines, have admitted liability. The case also sought to determine the liability of the bus's manufacturer, the tour operator, the tour guide and another bus company.
Aside from the driver and his employer, all the other suits were dismissed by Justice Elliot Myers on Feb. 10 after a lengthy trial that included multiple allegations, defendants and a slew of expert testimony.
Initially, all 55 passengers of the coach commenced lawsuits, but given the volume and potentially repetitive nature, Myers ordered that two claims proceed to trial as test cases with one representative, Jie Ding, for passengers thrown out the windows and another, Hua Li Pan, for passenger who remained in the coach.
There were some serious injuries in the crash, but no deaths.
The rollover crash
On a clear summer's day back in August 2014, the tour bus was driving along the Coquihalla, returning from a four-day Rocky Mountain tour.
The crash happened suddenly, caught on the dashcam video of a semi-trailer, and ended with passengers strewn across the highway after being thrown through shattered windows.
As the bus approached a curve on the highway, it passed the semi, moving into the middle lane, according to court documents.
Instead of turning with the curve in the road, the bus continued straight, the wheels hit the concrete median, causing Spittal to course correct to the right sharply, tipping the bus on its side and sending it sliding across the highway until it finally stopped on a right-hand shoulder.
Prevost, the manufacturer
The trial was broken down into separate allegations of liability for the different defendants with both plaintiffs' respective lawyers often arguing similar points.
In terms of the manufacturer, Prevost Car Inc., the plaintiffs alleged the injuries were worsened due to the negligent design of the bus which lacked seat belts and the windows used tempered glass instead of laminated.
"Seatbelts in motor coaches was not a simple issue. It was not a matter of 'seatbelts good; no seatbelts bad,' " wrote Myers in his decision.
Counsel for Prevost argued that when the bus was built in 1998, the industry standard in North America was not to install seatbelts because they could have a detrimental effect in certain types of accidents.
- Inter-city buses helping connect B.C. families during the holidays, amid highway travel restrictions
Newly manufactured motor coaches didn't require seatbelts in Canada until September 2020.
Ultimately, Myers ruled Prevost acted reasonably in its design and manufacturing and followed industry standards. He also tossed out the claims about the windows.
Tempered glass was the industry standard and expert testimony showed that laminate glass also wouldn't have survived the crash.
"It might even have caused further injury.," he wrote.
Universal, CanAm and the tour guide
CanAm Super Vacations organized the tour and contracted Universal Coach Line to provide bus and driver services, however, Universal wasn't able to fulfil the request. It subcontracted the work to Western Bus Lines, a common occurrence in the industry.
The suit alleged the companies were negligent in their sub-contracting by not ensuring the buses had seatbelts and also failing to inquire about Western's hiring, training and safety practices.
Myers said the arguments relied on the accusation the driver had fallen asleep. But the defendants claimed that never happened, offering instead that it was a lapse of attention.
Myers found there was no direct evidence that explained why Spittal didn't turn with the curve, Spittal himself said he can't remember.
"The plaintiffs have not proven that Mr. Spittal fell asleep at the wheel or that the accident was due to fatigue. It is just as likely that it could have been caused by inattention," he wrote.
The argument was also dismissed.
In terms of the tour guide, Mark Yu, the plaintiff's counsel alleged he had a duty to keep an eye on the driver for fatigue.
Unable to prove Spittal had fallen asleep or showed signs of sleepiness, this allegation, too, was tossed out.
Finally, The plaintiffs argued that Western, Universal, CanAm and Prevost all had a duty to warn that the bus didn't have seatbelts.
Myers found that CanAm was the only defendant that could have warned the plaintiffs before the tour began, but during the trial, both plaintiffs stated they would have preferred a bus with seatbelts, not that it was the only option they would choose.
No evidence was offered in court to show there were other available tours with buses that had seatbelts, according to the decision.
"If CanAm had given a warning to either plaintiff, it would not have made a difference to them and they would have booked the tour anyway," wrote Myers.