Settlement approved in Fort LeBoeuf school bus stop death

Nov. 17--A $350,000 settlement has been reached in the 2011 fatal accident that claimed the life of 13-year-old Ashley Clark at a Fort LeBoeuf School District school bus stop.

Under the terms of an agreement recently filed in Erie County Orphans' Court, the insurance company for the school district has agreed to pay $325,000 to settle any potential liability claims against the district arising from Clark's Dec. 20, 2011, death on Route 97.

The insurance company for Tyler Festa, the 20-year-old driver whose vehicle struck and killed Clark, meanwhile, has agreed to pay an additional $25,000, which, according to court records, is Festa's insurance policy limit.

Of the proceeds, $226,954.51 will be paid to Clark's estate, which is administered by her mother, Jennifer Gryzwinski. That amount will be split between Gryzwinski and Clark's father, Chris Clark, the settlement states.

Erie lawyer Rick Filippi, who represented the Clark family, will receive $116,550 in fees and $6,495.49 in costs.

Clark's parents filed no lawsuit in connection with the crash. Instead, the settlement was reached through mediation, then docketed in Erie County Court and approved by Erie County Judge Daniel Brabender.

With the agreement, the district and Festa admit no wrongdoing and Clark's estate agrees not to pursue a wrongful death claim against them.

Clark, a Fort LeBoeuf Middle School student, and her schoolmate Taz Giannelli, then 17, were struck by Festa's vehicle as they crossed Route 97 to board the Fort LeBoeuf School District bus in front of Popp'sMobile Home Park.

Criminal charges, including homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and simple assault, are still pending against Festa.

The most serious charges were initially dismissed in 2012 by Erie County Judge Shad Connelly, who found a lack of evidence that Festa acted with criminal recklessness. However, the state Superior Court overruled Connelly and reinstated the charges in May.</p>

Festa, in turn, asked the state Supreme Court to review that decision. The court has not indicated whether it will take up the case. If it declines, Festa would again be on track to face trial.

A recording of the accident captured by a surveillance camera showed that Clark, Giannelli and other students had entered the road between three and six seconds before the school bus came to a stop and activated its red lights and stop sign. Other children moved off the road as Festa's car approached in the darkness, but Clark and Giannelli were struck.

The settlement paperwork states that the plaintiffs' investigation of the crash showed the school district had notice of safety concerns about the bus stop, which, the plaintiffs said, required students to cross a busy, poorly lit stretch of two-lane highway.

The settlement agreement states that the school district had previously moved the bus stop for elementary school students who lived at Popp's to allow them to board the bus without having to cross the road.

It states that parents and others had asked the district to move the stop for older students, as well. It says that Richard Smith, the manager of Popp's, had "contacted school district personnel to voice concerns that the children were often entering the roadway in anticipation of the bus and thus were exposed to possible injury from a motor vehicle accident."

It states that Smith repeated his concerns to district officials again on Nov. 8, 2011, about a month and a half before Clark's death, but that the "school district and its board failed to address the location of the bus stop."

After the accident, the district initiated several bus route safety improvements, including the relocation of the Popp's bus stop. Middle and high school students now board directly in front of the mobile home park.

Filippi, Dave Phillips, a spokesman for Festa's insurance company, State Farm, and Terry L. M. Bashline, lawyer for the district's insurance company, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., declined to comment.

Fort LeBoeuf schools Superintendent Debra Spaulding could not immediately be reached for comment.

Carl Moore, the solicitor for the school district, did not take part in the settlement proceedings and could not comment on them.

He said generally, school district staff have been "very broken up about" Clark's death.

"She was a wonderful young lady," he said. "The school district certainly feels very badly about the situation. It was a tragedy. A young life was lost. I think the school district has done everything it could do."

LISA THOMPSON can be reached at 870-1802 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNthompson.

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