On July 13, 2005, a truck and a tour bus carrying members of Eminem’s Anger Management 3 Tour collided on Westbound I-70 near Odessa, Missouri in Lafayette County. Four passengers on the bus were injured along with the truck driver and his wife who was a passenger in the tractor trailer.
The tour bus was driven by Charles Dilligard of Entertainment Coaches of America and was traveling from Chicago, Illinois to Denver, Colorado for the next show in the Anger Management 3 Tour. The truck was in the left lane when the tour bus approached the truck quickly from behind. The bus driver, swerved right to avoid rear-ending the tractor trailer and then over-corrected to the left to avoid a guardrail, and collided with the truck. The truck went through the grassy median and cable divider and crossed both lanes of eastbound I-70 before ending up on the shoulder of the east bound I-70.
Plaintiffs alleged that the bus driver Charles Dilligard was fatigued and exceeded the number of hours for allowed by federal law for commercial bus drivers. It was also claimed that the bus was speeding which as verified by various witnesses who estimated that the bus was traveling in excess of 85 miles an hour. This was also substantiated by the investigating police officers.
The bus driver denied that he was speeding and claimed that the collision was caused because the truck driver was going too slowly in the left lane and that the truck driver had pulled out from a rest area and changed into the fast lane while he was going too slow. This allegation by Dilligard was contradicted by evidence from the truck’s black box recorder indicating that the truck was going 68 miles an hour when the tour bus approached from behind.
Tina Wyngarden suffered a cervical fracture, spinal trauma, a C5-C6 cervical discectomy with fusion, nerve damage, headaches and other injuries. Her medical expenses were in excess of $105,000. Alan Mamon, Eminem’s disc jockey for the tour, suffered a lacerated liver, collapsed lung, as well as multiple rib fractured, and his medical expenses were in excess of $38,000 and he had lost wages of $42,000. Neil Mamon, who worked as Alan’s business manager, suffered a C7 fracture, cervical fusion, vertebral displacement at C5-C6. puncture wound on his leg, nerve damage as well as other injuries. Joseph Fendrick suffered internal injuries, a right humerus fracture, right clavicle fracture, left ankle fracture, closed head injury, double hernia, a deep vein thrombosis, all of which resulted with a permanent limp and unsteady gait, with medical expenses exceeding $197,000. Finally Robert Haddoni suffered a herniated disc C5-6, closed head injury, positional vertigo, and damage to both inner ears, his medical expenses were in excess of $38,000.
In January 2007, all of the claims were settled for the remaining policy limits on the policy maintained by ECA for approximately $4,500,000.00.
