First Student Inc. Missouri Cases

D.J., a fourth-grader, was struck by a hit-and-run driver after being dropped off by a First Student, Inc. bus at an intersection. D.J. sued First Student, alleging negligence for failing to provide the substitute bus driver with the correct route information, which resulted in D.J. being dropped off at an unsafe location. The jury found in favor of D.J. on this claim, but the Supreme Court of Missouri vacated the judgment, holding that the criminal act of the third-party driver was an intervening and superseding cause, breaking the chain of proximate causation.

D.J., a child, was struck by a passing car after exiting a school bus operated by First Student, Inc. The jury found First Student directly negligent for failing to provide its substitute driver with sufficient route information, awarding D.J. $1.3 million, but found for First Student and the driver on a claim regarding a reasonably safe drop-off location. First Student appealed the denial of its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The appellate court affirmed, concluding that First Student owed an independent duty to provide route information, the passing car's actions were a foreseeable contributing cause, and neither the McGinnis doctrine nor the McHaffie rule precluded liability.