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"                      <p class=\"imgtitle\">Guzman</p>           AUSTIN &ndash; McClennan County jurors correctly blamed Motor Coach Industries Mexico for a crash that killed five on Interstate 35, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled on Dec. 17.<br /><br />Jurors found that seat belts on a Central Texas Trails bus could have kept passengers inside and that laminated glass would have prevented fatal injuries.<br /><br />Federal regulations don't require seat belts or lamination on motor coaches, but all nine Justices agreed that jurors followed common law without intruding on federal law.<br />  <br />Justice Eva Guzman wrote that the verdict \"does not present any obstacle to the accomplishment of the federal regulatory scheme's purpose.\"<br />  <br />Judgment on damages will require a second trial, because District Judge Jim Meyer failed to ask jurors about responsibility of Central Texas Trails and the driver.<br />  <br />In 2003, friends chartered a Central Texas Trails bus to take them from Temple to Dallas for a concert.<br />  <br />Near Waco, in rain and fog, the driver crested a hill and saw red lights. Traffic had stopped due to an accident.<br />  <br />\"He attempted to change lanes to increase his stopping distance, but another car cut him off, so he steered into the earthen median and lost control of the bus,\" Guzman wrote.<br />  <br />\"It crossed the median into southbound traffic and collided with a large sport utility vehicle, spun counter clockwise, and tipped over on its right side,\" she wrote.<br />  <br />\"The bus slid across the southbound lanes and came to rest in the ditch on the far side of the road.\"<br /><br />Five died and others suffered injuries.<br />  <br />Central Texas Trails exhausted its $5 million liability policy, declared bankruptcy, and deposited the proceeds in a liability fund.<br />  <br />Families and passengers sued Motor Coach Industries Mexico in McClennan County four months after the crash, along with its importer and distributor.<br />  <br />Central Texas Trails reached agreement with families and passengers four months after that, through non-binding mediation.<br />  <br />\"The unique plan allowed the claimants to either accept a mediated percentage of the proceeds or to litigate their claims before a special judge,\" Guzman wrote.<br />  <br />Those who sued could obtain no more than 10 percent above the mediator's award.<br />  <br />Central Texas Trails reorganized, and a bankruptcy judge discharged any tort liability in excess of the liability fund.<br />  <br />Motor Coach Industries Mexico tested the discharge in the McClellan County action, moving to join Central Texas Trails and the driver as necessary third parties.<br />  <br />Meyer denied the motion.<br />  <br />At close of trial, he refused to ask jurors if they could hold Central Texas Trails and the driver responsible.<br />  <br />He refused to ask if they could subject Central Texas Trails and the driver to proportionate liability as settling parties.<br />  <br />Jurors awarded more than $17 million.<br />  <br />Before Meyer could enter judgment, the special judge for Central Texas Trails found all the awards but one exceeded the mediator's maximum.<br />  <br />The special judge capped the awards and prorated them. A bankruptcy judge approved the caps and released payments.<br />  <br />Meyer adjusted the awards to account for the mediation, and entered judgment.<br />  <br />On appeal, 10th District judges in Waco sided with jurors on seat belts and glass but found Meyer should have defined Central Texas Trails and the driver as settling persons.<br />  <br />The 10th District remanded the case for trial to allocate damages, and the Supreme Court affirmed the decision.<br />  <br />Guzman wrote, \"Given that no federal safety standard even discusses passenger seat belts in motor coaches, MCI's preemption claim is predicated on regulatory silence.<br />  <br />\"Regulatory silence will not preempt a state law absent a clear and manifest statement of intent to forbid all regulation in that area.\"<br />  <br />She wrote that \"an agency's mere decision to leave an area unregulated is not enough to preempt state law.\"<br />  <br />On windows, she wrote that glazing materials would feature prominently on retrial.<br />  <br />Victims sought to avoid retrial by pleading that they styled the agreement with Central Texas Trails as a litigation plan rather than a settlement.<br />  <br />Guzman wrote that it had all semblances of a settlement.<br />  <br />Wanda Fowler, Thomas Wright, Chad Forbes, Michael Choyke, John Dacus, Darrell Barger and James Dunnam represented Motor Coach Industries.<br />  <br />Stephen Harrison, William Arnot, Justin Presnal, Thomas Brown, Wayne Fisher, Timothy Sulak and Craig T. Enoch represented families and passengers.<br /><br /><em>Case No. 09-0048</em><br />"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://setexasrecord.com/stories/510614749-texas-sc-federal-bus-safety-laws-do-not-preempt-state-common-laws>