Families of Saltillo bus crash victims sue tour company

EDINBURG — The families of two Brownsville middle school teachers who died in a March bus crash south of Saltillo, Coah., have sued the tour company that ran the route, accusing the firm of gross negligence.

Monterrey-based Grupo Senda Autotransporte failed to provide "first class and safe transportation to and from Mexico and not subject (its passengers) to an unusual risk of injury," according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of the surviving heirs of Ana Maria Bujanos and Rebecca Ellen Pemelton.

What's more, the business did not pay out hundreds of dollars it promised to surviving family members to cover funeral and medical expenses, said Robert Bujanos, a cousin of Ana Maria Bujanos who is representing her family as their attorney.

"Those promises were just press releases that sounded good for them," he said. "But these family members have had to struggle to pay bills while trying to come to terms with what happened."

Grupo Senda declined to comment on the suit but insisted the company did make the pledged payments to the families of Ana Maria Bujanos, Pemelton and the other crash victims.

"We paid for everyone," said company spokesman Jose Juan Gonzalez, who also works in the Grupo Senda finance department. "I saw the checks myself."

Both Ana Maria Bujanos, 56, and Pemelton, 68 - teachers at Brownsville's Cummings Middle School who were on a spring break vacation - died after their bus collided with a tractor-trailer March 16 along a highway stretching between Saltillo and Zacatecas, Zac., Mexico.

The impact killed nine other passengers and injured 16 more but was officially blamed on the tractor-trailer driver, who had been drinking and swerved into oncoming traffic.

Robert Bujanos declined to discuss Thursday what specifically prompted his allegations of negligence but said he felt challenging the bus company "was the right thing to do" after examining the vehicle. His lawsuit makes no specific allegations of negligence.

The Bujanos and Pemelton families have asked a jury to award them damages for physical pain, suffering and mental anguish, as well as reimbursement for medical expenses and lost wages.

State District Judge Rudy Delgado has not yet set a hearing in the case.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.