LOSS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA YOUNGSTER MAY LEAD TO WRONGFUL DEATH
Increasingly in major cities, public transit has become the poster child of environmentalist progress, promising diminished urban pollution. City buses filled with British Columbia citizens enjoying comparatively stress-free travel from point A to point B implicitly trust their professionally trained bus drivers to proceed without mishap. When the bus they’re riding in suddenly strikes down a child, many might wonder whether the child’s parents would consider pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit.
On a Friday, just about the time weekday school bells chime, a nine-year-old traversing a crosswalk was hit by a city bus. The young girl later died of her injuries. Previously, a crossing guard had been present at the Abbotsford intersection. The job had recently been outsourced, but no crossing guard was found at the scene. A school district spokesperson commented that local authorities were looking into why the crosswalk was unmonitored on that fatal morning.
Apart from district authorities and Abbotsford police, the death of a youngster caused by a municipal transport vehicle involves several entities, including B.C. Transit and B.C. Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement. Certainly, this is an incident that gives rise to questions on several fronts, such as whether the driver paused at the crosswalk and the child’s exact location when struck. Police state that investigations are still at very preliminary stages.
It beggars the imagination to think of the family’s anguish. Yet, given the tangle of jurisdictions, her parents may benefit from the experience of a British Columbia personal injury lawyer who could help organize witness accounts and determine where legal fault might conceivably lie. Quantifying the legal damages from the unutterable tragedy of losing a child, including funeral expenses, would form some part of a wrongful death lawsuit, if found appropriate under such challenging circumstances.
Source: huffingtonpost.ca, “9-Year-Old Dies After Being Hit By A Bus While In A Crosswalk“, Dec. 1, 2017