The parents of an educational counselor among 10 people killed last year in the collision of a charter bus headed for Humboldt State University and a FedEx truck have filed a wrongful death/negligence suit against the delivery giant and the bus company.
Arthur Arzola Sr. and Patricia Arzola, the father and mother of Arthur Arzola Jr., filed the lawsuit Wednesday against FedEx Corp. and Silverado Stages Inc., the operator of the bus, in Los Angeles Superior Court. They seek unspecified damages.
The suit alleges the FedEx driver drove negligently and that the charter bus did not have sufficient emergency exit procedures in place.
The 26-year-old Arzola was a chaperone accompanying dozens of Los Angeles-area students traveling in the charter bus to Humboldt State for a campus tour. The ardent Dodgers fan was an admissions counselor at Humboldt State and was working toward his master’s degree in educational counseling at the University of La Verne. He planned to become a school counselor.
The bus was being driven north on the Golden State (5) Freeway in Glenn County about 5:40 p.m. on April 10, 2014, when it was struck head on by a southbound FedEx truck that veered off the freeway, across a wide median and into oncoming traffic in Orland.
Five students and five adults died in the wreck and ensuing fire.
Numerous other lawsuits stemming from the crash previously have been filed, including one by Arzola’s widow, Krystle Arzola, last Oct. 2. She accepted his master’s degree on his behalf during May 2014 graduation ceremonies.
FedEx previously issued a statement extending condolences to the victims and their families and saying the company was “focused on providing support to those affected and cooperating with the authorities as they conduct their investigation.”
— City News Service