By Terri Langford, August 26, 2004

The operator of the bus that crashed near Terrell while en route to church camp should be held responsible for the tragedy because he knowingly put an unqualified driver behind the wheel, attorneys said Wednesday in opening trial statements.

Eric Rockmore, who owns Discovery Tours of Texas, sat quietly as three attorneys for 16 injured children took turns accusing him of negligence in selecting Ernest Carter as a last-minute replacement to drive the bus on June 24, 2002.

Mr. Carter was later found to have had traces of cocaine and Valium in his body at the time of the crash. The Texas Department of Public Safety said it appeared that he fell asleep at the wheel. The bus crashed into a highway pillar, killing Mr. Carter and passengers Michael Freeman, 12; Michelle Chaney, 14; Amanda Maxwell, 13; and Lindsay Kimmons, 16.

At issue in this trial – another attempt to hear the case after an April 12 mistrial – are not the four deaths, which were previously settled through out-of-court agreements or litigation, but liability for the injuries of the 16 children.

"Mr. Rockmore's not here to accept responsibility," said attorney David Schiller, who represents 14 of the children. "He's here to present a frivolous circumstantial case."

Mr. Rockmore's company was subcontracted by Green's Transportation to provide a second bus to help ferry about 100 campers to Ruston, La., for Metro Church of Garland.

The driver originally scheduled by Discovery Tours, Amy Sievert, overslept and called her boss to say she was on her way when Mr. Rockmore decided to use another driver, though he'd never used him before, Mr. Schiller told jurors.

"Mr. Rockmore had a well-rested, qualified driver," Mr. Schiller said, referring to Ms. Sievert. "He chose out of anger not to do so."

Rob Miller, Mr. Rockmore's lawyer, told the jury's four men and eight women that they should look carefully at all the evidence before deciding what happened. Mr. Miller repeated his theory that a snake might have startled the driver and caused the crash.

"I will never make an excuse in this case," Mr. Miller said. "I'm going to lay it out for you and let you decide. ... Wait until you hear the whole story."

Mr. Schiller and the two other plaintiff attorneys told jurors that evidence in the trial, expected to last four weeks, would prove that Mr. Rockmore forged records after the crash to show that he had taken Mr. Carter on a test drive before hiring him and that he was well-rested before embarking on the church trip.

By law, Mr. Carter should have had eight hours of rest. Instead, Mr. Carter had just completed at 20-hour trip from Florida two days before the crash and was up the night before talking on his cellphone, records showed.

Mark Werbner, who represents Don and Joan Stout and their seriously injured son, Nick, and Stephen Khoury, who represents teenager Ashley Pavelko and her family, told jurors how church chaperones on the trip expressed concern about Mr. Carter's driving just minutes before the crash.

"They knew something was funny about Mr. Carter. He was weaving. He was driving funny," Mr. Werbner said.

Several other defendants have already settled with the plaintiffs in this trial. The Stouts settled their claim against Green's Transportation and its owner, James Green Jr., two days ago for an undisclosed amount.

Most of the victims' families agreed to a $6.1 million settlement last year with Metro Church and Green's Transportation. Although the church wasn't sued, its insurer decided to settle to avert a lawsuit.

ABC Bus Inc., which leased the bus that crashed to Mr. Rockmore's company, settled with several families separately. Details of those settlements have not been released by the court.

Mr. Rockmore's insurance policy had lapsed at the time of the crash, according to Republic Western Insurance Co. Mr. Rockmore disputes that, and the issue is being debated in another court. But plaintiffs' attorneys in this case said they believe there will be insurance money available to their clients if they can convince jurors that Mr. Rockmore is guilty of negligence.

"We do believe at the end of the day there will be an ability to collect on the judgment," Mr. Schiller said.

The April 12 mistrial was declared after the sister of one of the teenage plaintiffs was killed in an unrelated car accident.

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