Dozing Driver Sued in Shuttle Bus Accident

As reported by Fox News in Salt Lake City, two of the 14 tourists that were injured in a shuttle bus accident in southern Utah, Kei and Mai Maeda, have filed a lawsuit against the driver, the bus company and two tour organizers.

Yasushi Mikuni, 26, was driving a group of tourists from Japan on August 9 when he dozed off, rolled onto a highway and killed three of his passengers.  He had just completed an 11-hour day shift before getting into the tour bus that night. 

Husband and wife Kei and Mai Maeda, were celebrating their first wedding anniversary with a tour of Utah and Arizona canyonlands. Now Kei suffers from a broken neck, and Mai with a punctured lung and eye injury.

Mikuni, a Japanese citizen living in Las Vegas on a U.S. work and education visa, was charged in a Utah court with 10 felony counts of negligent driving under the influence, a misdemeanor charge for having marijuana show up in his system, and logbook and unsafe lane-change violations.

Mikuni was not required to enter a plea. Fifth District Judge G. Michael Westfall set Mikuni's preliminary hearing for January 26.  As the other injured tourists from Japan left the country without fully knowing their rights, the Maedas may be the only ones filing claims. The couple, like the other tourists, have since returned to Japan. 

The Maedas were in a Utah hospital recovering from their injuries starting on August 9 until last week.  Scott Brown, the attorney for the Maedas, said that the driver was the only occupant of the bus left standing after the accident.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Salt Lake City states that Mikuni drove 11 hours the day of the crash, got less than seven hours of sleep, repeatedly dozed off while at the wheel, hit highway rumble strips and wasn't wearing the eyeglasses required by his driver's license.

An additional charge for speeding has since been disputed by Utah Highway Patrol.  Sgt. Ryan Bauer contended that though not speeding, there were plenty of other counts of driver negligence.

Sgt. Bauer also stated that though Mikuni admitted to heavily smoking marijuana for days before the fatal accident, he was not impaired. Investigators are turning more to the idea of fatigue as being the major factor in the crash.

The shuttle bus flipped over 11/2 times after Mikuni nodded off.

The lawsuit claims that Mikuni's drug use - three hours of continuous marijuana smoking the night before - was to blame for his lack of sleep. Mikuni then allegedly tried to keep himself alert by consuming energy drinks and chewing nicotine gum while driving.

The other defendant's named are the owners of the Ford E350 shuttle bus, Canyon Transportation Inc. of Sandy, and the two companies that the Maedas paid for the tour and it's scheduling, Western Leisure Inc. in Utah and the Nippon Travel Agency in Japan.

If you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury, contact a personal injury lawyer in our directory today to talk about your rights and plan your case.