Final $20M Settlement Reached In Fatal NJ School Bus Crash

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — The families of two New Jersey students injured in a 2018 school bus crash — one of whom died— have settled an additional $650,000 lawsuit, their attorney said.

This brings total settlement amounts for the families of 10-year-old Miranda Vargas and Asher Majeed to more than $20 million, attorney Bruce Nagel confirmed to Patch.

Vargas and 51-year-old teacher Jennifer Williamson were killed in the horrific collision along Route 80, which happened while a bus of students from Paramus were on a field trip. The crash caused Majeed to be in a coma for two weeks, and injured 42 additional students and staff members.

"We are pleased to finally end this tragic chapter after five years of litigation," said Nagel, with the firm Nagel Rice LLP in Roseland. The settlement was reached in January, he said; it was first reported on Wednesday by NJ Advance Media.

As Patch reported last October, Paramus Public Schools agreed to a $7 million settlement with Vargas' family and a $12.5 million settlement with Majeed's family, in a separate lawsuit.

There has not been a settlement announced on behalf of Williamson's estate.

The crash on May 17, 2018 in Mount Olive brought about sweeping changes to New Jersey school bus safety laws.

School bus driver Hudy Muldrow Sr. was driving students from East Brook Middle School to Waterloo Village in Stanhope, and missed a turn.

Officials said Muldrow, then 77, attempted an illegal U-turn through an official-use-only cut-through just past Exit 25, when the bus was struck by a dump truck. That trucking company, Mendez Trucking, was the subject of the lawsuit settled in January.

Majeed's family claimed that the dump truck's driver drove the truck in a "negligent and careless manner," did not make "proper observations," and failed to maintain a safe speed, as Patch reported back in 2018.

Nagel said the family will split the $650,000 that was agreed to in the settlement.

In 2019, bus driver Muldrow pleaded guilty to a pair of reckless vehicular homicide charges, five counts of fourth-degree assault by auto, one count of disorderly persons assault by auto and endangering the welfare of children in state Superior Court in Morristown.

Muldrow had a history of driving trouble, including more than a dozen license suspensions and eight speeding tickets.

He was given an aggregate sentence of 10 years in New Jersey state prison—five years for each of the reckless vehicular homicide charges, which would run concurrently but would be subject to a mandatory minimum of 85 percent of the sentence, officials said.

After his release, he will lose his license for two years and spend three years on supervised parole, officials said.

Patch's Vianella Burns contributed to this report.