Bastrop Teacher Sues for $1 Million Accuses Trucking Company of Depraved Gross Negligence

A Bastrop teacher aide is suing a trucking company for damages from an accident in which a concrete truck crashed into a Hays CISD school bus on March 24, 2024. Deborah Serna, the Pre-K teacher, and her husband are seeking $1 million to assist in covering financial losses and non-economic damages suffered since the accident occurred.

When the bus was hit, Serna was in the company of 44 pre-K students and 11 adult chaperones. The bus was on SH 21, heading west after a day at the Bastrop Zoo. According to the official accident report, the truck veered off its lane into the bus lane, resulting in a collision.

Driver Charged

The accident resulted in the untimely death of two people: Ulises Rodriguez Matoya, a five-year-old pre-K student at Tom Green Elementary in Hays County, and Ryan Wallace, a 33-year-old who was driving a car behind the truck. 

The truck driver, Jerry Hernandez, was arrested by law enforcement and charged with criminally negligent homicide. Hernandez admitted to the investigators that he had smoked marijuana on the night before the accident and underused cocaine on the morning of the accident before heading to work. He also admitted to having slept only three hours the previous night.  

The combination of these factors made him a pretty risky driver on the road, and unfortunately, it resulted in an accident. Two lives were lost, and others had to live with the effects of related injuries.

The Trucking Company’s Negligence

According to court documents, Hernandez had at least three previous positive results for illegal drug use and had seen drug professionals for drug-related issues. In the lawsuit, Serna’s lawyer cited that F.J.M. Concrete knew or should have known Hernandez’s history and shouldn’t have allowed him behind the wheel.

Employers have a responsibility that the people they hire are fit for the job. Failure to uphold this responsibility means that an employer is liable for harm caused by the actions and inactions of their employees. 

“Everything about this case screams gross negligence. On one hand, we have an employer who fails in their duty to exercise negligence in their hiring, training, and employee retention.  On the other hand, we have a driver who doesn’t see any problem with being behind the wheel while intoxicated,” says personal injury lawyer Maxwell Paderewski of Lone Star Injury Attorneys, PLLC. 

While Serna could be considered lucky to have survived the accident, seeing two individuals was not as lucky; she was among the people who suffered the most severe injuries. She suffered at least two broken bones in her back and other injuries that necessitated her being out of the classroom for a while as she recovered. 

Accountability In Hiring, Training, and Retention

A case like Serna’s is not just about winning compensation in the personal injury claim but about driving necessary change in how employers handle hiring, training, and employee retention. 

Hays CISD is not a party in the lawsuit but has indicated that it stands with the victims of the crash and the entire community. This lawsuit is the first among many others but may be brought against the trucking company by the bus occupants that serve word-wearing degrees of injuries. 

The Hays School District expressed hope that everyone involved can have their life brought back as close to their pre-accident self as possible.