Adams Township police officers put up caution tape after a school bus crash Thursday, March 6, 2025, on Three Degree Road. Several people on the bus, including Mars Area School District students, were injured in the crash. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Morgan Phillips

About five families filed a lawsuit Thursday, March 27, against Mars Area School District and its transportation partner related to a crash earlier this month where the driver died.

The lawsuit was filed in Butler County Common Pleas Court on behalf of Ronald and Jessica Hardgrove, Gesuele and Lisa Burello, Patrick and Samantha Cocoran, Kevin and Kerri Friess and Michael and Megan Waltenbaugh against the Mars Area School District and A.J. Myers & Sons.

Notice of the suit, filed by Timothy Wojton, an attorney with Scanlon & Wojton, LLC, appears online, but the specific details are not yet viewable.

The lawsuit is in response to a bus crash March 6 on Three Degree Road, according to the lawsuit acquired on Friday, March 28, which sent seven students to the hospital and resulted in the death of bus driver William “Bob” Miller. The district announced his death March 13.

Mars Area School District Transportation Director Christina Smith declined to comment on the lawsuit. Attempts to reach the transportation company and Wojton were unsuccessful.