Record Damages Recovered for Passengers Injured in Las Vegas Coach Crash

Compensation after Coach Crash in USA

On 7 September 2000, a total of 39 English tourists were passengers on a coach which left Las Vegas as part of a coach tour of America. The driver of the coach in which they were travelling lost control of the vehicle, causing it to overturn.  Many passengers were thrown from their seats and, with the coach windows broken, they were then dragged along in direct contact with the road surface at high speed and for several hundred feet.  Many of the passengers sustained serious degloving and orthopaedic injuries. Some suffered amputations and others have been left with permanent physical and psychiatric injuries.

The passengers were travelling on the coach as part of a package holiday which they had purchased from a British tour operator, which had in turn sub-contracted elements of the package to various American companies.

Following the accident, the driver of the coach was charged and later pleaded guilty to criminal charges of driving at an unsafe speed and evidence was obtained which indicated that he had stayed up late the night preceding the accident, during a stop-over in Las Vegas. The tour director was aware that he was tired on the day of the accident and that he had driven at speeds in excess of the speed limit during the tour. Despite this, she did not report the driver to her employers and made no complaint to the driver during the tour.

After complex international legal procedure we received the highest compensation ever awarded for English tourists. The exact sums received by our clients are bound by confidentiality clauses and cannot be disclosed for this reason.