Houston Law Firm Hired By Family Of Elderly Couple Killed In Biloxi Bus Crash

HOUSTON, TX — The Houston-based Lanier Law Firm has been retained to represent the family of Kenneth Hoffman, one of the four people killed earlier this week when the tour bus they were traveling in was hit by a freight train in Biloxi, Miss., attorneys said Thursday.

Hoffman, 82, was one of 49 passengers departing on a chartered bus at the Bastrop Senior Center headed to a Boomtown Casino in Biloxi. The motor coach got stuck on the tracks while trying to clear a crossing marked as having a low-ground clearance, attorneys said. A incoming CSX freight train slammed into the stuck bus at around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

Four passengers were killed and 41 others injured, eight of them critically. In addition to Hoffman, the dead include his wife, Peggy Hoffman, 73, also of Lockhart; Clinton Havarn, 79, of Sealy, Texas; and Deborah Orr, 62, of Bastrop.

“This tragedy should have never happened,” said Larry Wilson, an attorney with The Lanier Law Firm who specializes in railroad claims and trucking accidents. “It’s horrifying that a charter bus would ignore a warning sign and get high-centered on the tracks. It’s a risk that never should have taken place.”

Lanier Law Firm attorneys will review video from the train and records from previous accidents at the same location, Wilson said. No details were made available as to the monetary compensation that is being sought from the freight train company.

Related story: Four Dead In Biloxi Crash Involving Bastrop Senior Center Bus Chartered From Texas

“CSX Transportation may very well bear some of the responsibility for the events at that crossing, as it was well known as one of the most dangerous crossings in the entire nation,” Mr. Wilson said. “CSX could have implemented policies relating to speed and procedures that greatly reduced the risk of a catastrophe like this. What actions could have been taken to avoid that collision? That is a question that we have to ask.”

In related news, an official with the National Transportation Safety Board said in a press conference that the driver of the bus involved in the collision strayed from directions offered all three buses making the same trip. The bus was being operated by Dallas-based Echo Transportation was carrying a group of seniors to the Biloxi casino along with three other buses, but the driver followed different directions than those sent to the drivers by Diamond Tours of Fort Myers, Fla., the touring company that organized the trip.

Robert L. Sumwalt addressed reporters at a press conference outlining the scope of their investigation, which will include extracting data from cameras the may have been recording at the time of the collision between the bus and train:

The Hoffmans were longtime administrators at Lockhart ISD, school district officials said.

"The Hoffmans served as teachers, colleagues, and leaders in the Lockhart community," school district wrote on their website.

“The impact that the Hoffmans had in our community through their devotion to our children and staff cannot be overstated,” Superintendent Susan Bohn said. “Even after retirement, they actively supported Lockhart students by regularly attending and cheering at athletic events, supporting Lockhart FFA, serving as judges for the annual district science fair, and working with those seeking to pursue a GED through the district’s community education department.”
The Hoffmans both worked for the school district for decades. Kenneth Hoffman served as teacher, coach, and assistant superintendent for the district, retiring in 1996. Peggy Hoffman began as a teacher, later becoming assistant principal at Lockhart High School and principal at Plum Creek Elementary. She retired in 2002.
Their tradition of service in public education is a family legacy, with four relatives of the Hoffmans now working at Lockhart ISD: Melissa Messerly, their daughter, is a teacher at Carver Early Education Center; Tara Chapman, their granddaughter, teaches at Plum Creek Elementary School; Aubrey Voigt, their grandson, teaches and coaches at Lockhart Junior High School; and Kelly Molitor, their granddaughter, serves as a counselor at the ML Cisneros Freshman Campus.
Molitor, the granddaughter, reflected on her grandparents loving nature: “My grandparents were very loving and accepting people, but they had high standards and expectations--not just for us, but also for students,” shared Molitor. “They wanted people to meet their full potential.”

LISD's director of community education Karla Tate noted that Peggy Hoffman was her third grade teacher. Tate now heads the program where she had been helping administer GED tests.

“It is hard to believe," Tate said. "They were pillars in the community and will be sorely missed.”

The family will stage a visitation from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at McCurdy Funeral Home, located at 105 E. Pecan St in Lockhart. Funeral services will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church, 313 W. San Antonio St., in Lockhart. In lieu of sending flowers, the family requests donations be sent to The Education Foundation for Lockhart ISD at 105 S. Colorado, Lockhart, TX 78644

or www.foundation4lisd.com.

>>> Photo of Kenneth and Peggy Hoffman courtesy of Lockhart ISD

Editor's note: This story has been changed to reflect the law firm's base in Houston rather than Austin as originally reported.