'We are devastated': Parents of sons killed in Hays CISD bus crash file lawsuits

The families of a man and a boy killed in a school bus crash in Bastrop County last month have filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against the concrete truck driver, his company and its owner.

Morgan and Lilia Wallace, the parents of 33-year-old Ryan Wallace, filed a lawsuit Wednesday. Alfredo Rodriguez and Emily Montoya, the parents of 5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, a prekindergarten student at Tom Green Elementary, filed a separate suit Tuesday. Both suits seek damages of more than $1 million, claiming Jerry Hernandez, a truck driver for FJM Concrete Pumping, and company owner Francisco Xavier Martinez are liable for the deaths.

The suits fault Hernandez's history of drug use and claim Martinez was negligent in hiring Hernandez.

Martinez deferred comment on the lawsuits to his attorney, Thomas Fagerberg, who did not respond to a request for comment.

At least five other lawsuits had been filed in connection with the March 22 crash as of Wednesday. The incident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Texas Department of Transportation, after a probe was completed by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Ryan Wallace was driving his personal vehicle behind the Hays school district bus, which had 44 pre-K students and 11 adults returning from a field trip to a zoo, when Hernandez, driving in the opposite direction, veered into the oncoming lane. A law enforcement investigation found that Hernandez struck the school bus and Wallace's car, causing his death and that of Ulises Rodriguez Montoya.

Rodriguez and Montoya's lawsuit says that “most, if not all,” of the other passengers on the bus were also injured. The school bus was not equipped with seat belts, leading the Hays school district this week to move to expedite the installation of seat belts in all school buses.

Sgt. Scott Hewitt of the Texas Highway Patrol determined that Hernandez was solely at fault in causing the collision, the Wallaces' lawsuit says. Hernandez faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide.

Hernandez had a history of drug use and had previously tested positive for marijuana and cocaine on two occasions, according to a notice issued last month by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. He had a "prohibited" status on his commercial driver's license that banned him from driving interstate commerce.

After the crash March 22, he admitted to investigators that he was sleep-deprived, had smoked marijuana the previous night and had consumed cocaine about 12 hours before the crash, according to an arrest affidavit. Hernandez had refused workplace drug testing on at least one previous occasion and had been referred to treatment with a substance abuse professional in 2020, the Wallaces' lawsuit says.

Both lawsuits claim Martinez was negligent in hiring and supervising Hernandez.

Rodriguez and Montoya's lawsuit also claims Hernandez was using a “portable wireless communication device for electronic messaging” while he was driving.

One was learning to spell; another was set to receive his doctorate

Rodriguez and Montoya are represented by William J. Sutton of the Sutton Law Firm, who did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Ulises Rodriguez Montoya loved the color green, his family, school and dinosaurs, the Hays school district said in a statement issued days after the crash.

“He could almost completely spell the word dinosaur, which demonstrates how smart he was,” said Naira "Dina" Solís Shears, his pre-K bilingual teacher. “He always had a dinosaur drawn on all of the assignments he turned in.”

Ryan Wallace was weeks away from defending his doctoral dissertation at the University of Texas.

“Ryan should be alive and celebrating becoming Dr. Wallace today," said Jeff Edwards, a legal representative for the Wallace family. "Unfortunately, FJM Concrete is just another example of a trucking company that cut corners at every turn and put its profits over the safety of our community."

Loss of a devoted brother and uncle

Diana Wallace told the American-Statesman that her brother was working remotely from home for a California-based cancer research center when he took a break to pick up his nephews, ages 14 and 7, from school. 

The family often socialized on Friday nights, she said. 

"We are devastated, truly," she said. "My brother was the person that each and every one of us would call and speak to every day. He would check in on everyone, and he is the person I want to call right now to talk to him about how I am feeling."

Diana Wallace said the loss is even more heartbreaking as information has come out about the circumstances of the crash.

"Yes, we want justice, but there is nothing at all that can bring back my brother. We don't want anyone else to suffer what my family has."

In a statement, attorneys for the Wallace family said their son's Ph.D. dissertation had been unanimously approved and praised by the doctoral committee April 8. The UT Graduate School is considering granting a posthumous Ph.D. after receiving a recommendation from the committee, said Mary Bock, a graduate adviser to the Ph.D. program.

Staff writer Keri Heath contributed to this report.