$4.25-million lawsuit filed in bus crash death

Relatives of the woman who was killed in a Toronto bus crash last August have launched a $4.25-million lawsuit against the Toronto Transit Commission, two drivers and a trucking company.

The claim was filed Tuesday on behalf of 43-year-old Jadranka Petrova's husband, son and daughter. Ms. Petrova was taking the bus after booking a driver's test on Aug. 30. It swerved and smashed into the rear of a crane truck on Lawrence Avenue East near the Don Valley Parkway, police said at the time. Ms. Petrova was killed and 13 other passengers were injured.

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer John McLeish at the Superior Court of Justice, alleges bus driver William Ainsworth smoked marijuana earlier that day and was driving too fast. The driver was charged last October with criminal negligence causing death and possession of marijuana.

Mr. McLeish said in an interview that Ms. Petrova's death was "totally preventable."

Of the total claim, $1-million is against the bus driver alone, Mr. McLeish said. The remaining amount, up to $3.25-million for special and general damages, is against all the defendants, he said. Mr. McLeish alleges that both drivers, the trucking company and the TTC were negligent. The TTC "failed to properly train and instruct" Mr. Ainsworth, the claim states.

Spokesman Brad Ross said Tuesday afternoon that the TTC was yet to be served with the lawsuit. "When it is, the TTC will need to review it before making any comment," he said in an e-mail. Calls to Mr. Ainsworth's Scarborough home were not returned.

Ms. Petrova's family is also suing the crane truck driver and the company he worked for, Scarborough-based Amherst Crane Rentals Ltd. Among the allegations are that the driver was "texting, dialling, talking, or otherwise using a mobile or electronic device just before the crash and at the time of the crash."

Amherst's vice-president said the crane truck driver is still working there and a statement of defence will be filed soon. "We are quite sure, here at Amherst, that our driver wasn't at fault," Valerie Brennan said.

Ms. Petrova, who had recently moved to Toronto with her husband and daughter from Macedonia, volunteered frequently in the community, her daughter said in an interview last September. "She was the best mother," Irena Petrova said.

None of the claims have been proven in court.