McKinney ISD on false imprisonment bus lawsuit: ‘No students were in danger’

In a lawsuit filed against McKinney Independent School District and Durham School Services L.P., defendants denied all allegations contained in the plaintiff’s original petition in which the parents of 13 McKinney ISD elementary school students alleged that a Durham School Services bus driver “willfully” detained students when she left her normal route on Feb. 28 and delivered students late to their bus stop, according to the lawsuit.

Claims in the lawsuit include general negligence on the part of McKinney ISD, Durham and the driver, as well as false imprisonment of the students. Plaintiffs seek monetary relief greater than $1 million for damages, including reasonable medical care for mental health and other injuries, physical pain and suffering, and mental anguish, according to the suit.

Defendants MISD and Durham School Services demanded “strict proof” of all allegations brought forth by the plaintiffs, according to the defendants’ original answers to the suit.

In their original answer, filed on April 10, McKinney ISD asserted that defendant Durham has agreed to indemnify MISD for plaintiffs’ damages, if any.

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“MISD asserts that it is not liable to plaintiffs for their damages, if any, because the bus in question was not owned, operated or maintained by MISD, but rather Defendant Durham,” MISD’s original answer said.

Durham School Services’ original answer, filed on April 3, states that plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part “due to consent,” failure of the plaintiff to “mitigate their damages” and because any alleged damages or injuries suffered were caused by the “acts or omissions of others over which Defendant exercises no control or authority.”

The defendant also stated that the plaintiff’s claims for mental anguish are barred because “there was no physical impact.”

“Any recovery for the plaintiffs must be reduced by the comparative negligence, fault, responsibility or causation attributable to plaintiffs or responsible third parties and/ or settling persons,” the original answer said.

The driver, listed in court documents as Isabel Doe, but whose last name is unknown, was supposed to drive the bus on route 159 from McClure Elementary School to Creekview Estates, a neighborhood about 1.5 miles east of the school.

Instead, the bus ended up in Allen and finally stopped going south on U.S. Highway 75 near Stacy Road before returning to the route, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney Kim Jones Penepacker, who said two parents were tracking their children’s cell phones. Stacy Road is about 15 minutes south of the school with no traffic.

“Ms. Doe diverted from her route for unknown reasons,” the suit said. During the drive, communication systems broke down between Durham and Doe. The cause for the breakdown “is believed by plaintiffs to be either a technological defect in Durham’s equipment or the intentional act of Ms. Doe,” the suit said.

The bus is also believed to have reached “unsafe heat levels” causing children to suffer from heat rashes, hives, vomiting and excessive sweating, the suit said.

“The children were additionally traumatized, fearing that they had been kidnapped,” the suit said, alleging mental anguish and psychological injuries in addition to the physical heat-related injuries.

Cody Cunningham, chief communications officer for MISD, said in an email that the district investigated these allegations “promptly” after learning of the parents’ concerns, and viewed a video of the entire bus ride from start to finish.

“The video, which cannot be released to the general public due to federal student privacy laws, shows that no students were in danger during the bus ride,” Cunningham said. The Durham bus driver appeared to drive in the wrong direction for a short time before realizing her mistake and turning around to take students to the correct bus stops, he said.

“As a result, the students were on the bus for approximately an extra 30-40 minutes at most,” Cunningham said. “Contrary to the plaintiffs’ exaggerated allegations, no students were ever in danger or harmed. In short, the plaintiffs are seeking more than $1,000,000 for a short time riding a Durham school bus in the wrong direction.”