Law Firm News

Seventh Grader Injured In Jump From School Bus

Daniel W. Munley, a Scranton attorney with the law firm of Munley, Munley & Cartwright, PC, is representing the family of a student who suffers from a rare bone disorder.

A seventh-grade student who allegedly suffered bone fractures when jumping from a bus during a 2006  safety drill may go forward with his lawsuit, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled.

The student's parents sued North Pocono School District and Pocono Transportation Inc. in 2010. The parents alleged their son was severely injured when he jumped four feet from the back of a school bus during a mandatory drill. The son suffers from osteopetrosis, an extremely rare inherited disorder that makes his bones brittle.

The family is being represented by Daniel W. Munley, a Scranton lawyer with the law firm of Munley, Munley & Cartwright, PC.

According to the family's lawsuit, the student and other bus passengers were told by a substitute bus driver to exit from the back of the bus during a safety drill. The drill was held on school property. The lawsuit alleges the district should not have allowed the student to participate because school officials knew of his medical condition.

The school moved to dismiss the case, but U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher C. Connor denied the motion on Jan. 5. Judge Connor's ruling sets the stage for a jury trial.

"I think for the young man and his family it was a victory to allow their case to go forward and let the jury decide," Mr. Munley said in an interview with the Scranton Times Tribune.

Read the Times Tribune article.