East Hills, NY — Five people were injured, including two children, in an accident involving a minibus in East Hills, New York, on Thursday, December 18, 2014. The accident happened around 8:30 in the morning.
There are currently very few details as to how the accident occurred. Reports have only said that a minibus was headed south on Glen Cove Road, near the intersection with Harbor Hills Road, when it collided head-on with an northbound SUV, around 8:30 in the morning.
There were four people on the minibus at the time, two adults and two students. Reports don’t mention the severity of their injuries.
The man driving the SUV was taken to Northshore University Hospital. His condition is currently unknown.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
Unfortunately, there are still many unanswered questions about this accident. Questions that will need to be answered if any sort of path forward can be charted. Accident involving state-owned vehicles — such as a school bus — can be very tricky to navigate. State-owned vehicles are typically protected under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which is a fancy way of saying that filing a claim against them is really difficult. Not impossible, mind, but there are very strict rules that need to be adhered to in bringing the claim. The statute of limitations for bringing a claim like this is often shorter because it involves a state-owned vehicle. Still, if a bus is at fault for an accident, the driver and owners of the bus can be held responsible. But those involved need to be aware that these types of accidents present a very special set of legal challenges.
— Grossman Law Offices