MOUNT CARMEL - All parties are once again in agreement to settle a lawsuit brought by a family who says their disabled 6-year-old son was mistreated on a school bus.
Five days after accusing Mount Carmel Area School District of holding up the settlement, Charles E. Haddick Jr., attorney for Marvin E. Klinger Jr. bus company, Dornsife, told federal court in Williamsport that progress was once again being made.
His complaint on June 9 had prompted Judge John E. Jones III to arrange a teleconference involving the parties for Wednesday. But Haddick informed the court a day earlier by letter that all parties had agreed to terms and the teleconference was no longer necessary. He thanked the court for its assistance.
The bus company, school district and Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, Montandon, were defendants in a suit filed by Mason M. and his mother Stephanie M., as they are identified in court documents. The family claimed the student was emotionally, verbally and physically abused by a bus driver as he was transported to and from school in the 2008-2009 school year.
The suit, originally filed in October, named the district and the CSIU as co-defendants; an amended complaint in December added the bus company.
The parties originally agreed to settle in April, but Haddick last week had complained to the court that the district was stalling in an effort to put further responsibility on the bus company.
Calls to Haddick and the family's attorney, Dennis McAndrews, in an attempt to determine the amount of the settlement, were not returned.