Latest bus crash lawsuit filed against Farmingdale school district, bus company, driver alleges negligence

Parents of a Farmingdale High School band member have sued over the bus crash that injured dozens of student musicians and killed two adults.

It is the latest of roughly 35 lawsuits filed on behalf of passengers aboard a chartered bus that on Sept. 21, 2023, plunged down a highway median in upstate New York on their way to a weekend band camp. The suit targets bus company Regency Transportation and driver Lisa Schaffer, tiremaker Bridgestone Americas and the Farmingdale school district.

Filed Thursday in state Supreme Court in Nassau by Farmingdale residents Deborah and Timothy Broderick on behalf of their son, identified only as T.B., it alleges that the defendants’ negligence caused the boy "severe, life altering and permanent injuries" and asks for unspecified damages. 

Band director Gina Pellettiere, 43, and former teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, who served as a chaperone on the trip, were killed in the crash on Interstate 84 near upstate Wawayanda.

The suit alleges that Regency failed to properly inspect the bus before the trip and that Schaffer drove recklessly above the speed limit. It alleges that Bridgestone was negligent in its design and manufacture of its tires. It also alleges that the school district failed to properly train its personnel on safety procedures and did not do "sufficient due diligence" before the trip that would have uncovered that New York State transportation officials had listed Regency as an "unacceptable Bus operator."

Many of the previous lawsuits also allege negligence. In legal filings, lawyers for the defendants have denied those allegations. 

A lawyer for Schaffer and Regency, Belinda Boone, said in an email that she could not comment on ongoing litigation but "we extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families affected."

A lawyer for the district declined to comment, and the district did not respond to a request for comment made through its spokesman. A lawyer for Bridgestone did not respond to a request for comment. The Brodericks did not respond to a voicemail left at their listed phone number and Roy Gordon, the Huntington lawyer representing them, declined to comment. Schaffer could not be reached.

Newsday reported in 2023 that the state Department of Transportation included Nesconset-based Regency on a list of "unacceptable" companies. Federal inspectors, however, listed the bus company’s safety record as "satisfactory" with better-than-average performance compared with national averages.

Documents released in September from a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the crash did not assign responsibility for the crash. According to those documents, shortly before the crash the bus was traveling 70.8 mph in a 65 mph speed zone, and that at least 41 of 44 bus occupants were not wearing seat belts.

At the time, no state or federal law required that passengers use seatbelts. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Oct. 23 signed into law a bill requiring most riders on charter buses to wear seat belts.