SEATTLE – More than two years after a University of Washington bus carrying members of the university’s marching band rolled onto its side on an icy stretch of Interstate 90, a King County jury awarded four students injured in the crash more than $1.4 million.
The crash, which occurred on Thanksgiving Day 2018 outside of George, Grant County, sent 47 students – out of 56 people on board – to hospitals for evaluation, The Seattle Times reported at the time. Two were hospitalized with what were described as non-life-threatening injuries.
The four band members represented in the case – Alexia Brown, Jacob Koreen, Monica Mursch and Edith Myers-Power – were represented by Herrmann Law Group.
The defendants were Nancy Aguilar, the bus driver, and MTR Western, the bus company hired by the UW to transport students.
“After this long fight for justice, we are pleased the jury agreed this was a horrible crash,” said Anthony Marsh, an attorney on the case. “These four students survived an astounding tragedy. We hope anyone on the bus still fighting for justice will keep fighting until they get what is fair.”
The charter bus in the wreck was one of six in a fleet carrying marching band members and spirit squads to the Apple Cup football game in Pullman.
After the wreck, The Seattle Times reported that road conditions at the time of the crash were icy and slushy and that the driver of the bus, Aguilar, was cited for driving too fast for conditions, according to the Washington State Patrol.
Alexia Brown, who received the largest award of the four – $569,000 – was a freshman alto saxophone player on her first trip to the Apple Cup.
According to a release from Herrman Law Group, Brown was tossed out of the rolling bus and woke up tangled in barb wire. Brown suffered multiple fractures to her spine and PTSD, according to the law firm. She never marched for the UW band again.
