Woman sues bus line over drunken passenger

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A Warren woman has sued Greyhound Lines Inc. for up to $75,000, saying she was forced to travel from somewhere in Kentucky to Valdosta, Ga., in urine-soaked clothes after an intoxicated passenger unzipped his pants and urinated on her during a bus trip that originated in Youngstown.

The plaintiff, Martha Layton, of Highland Avenue, said the intoxicated man, who had just been in an altercation at a local bar, was escorted to the bus by two Cincinnati police officers and directed by the driver to sit next to her Dec. 17, 2010.

The civil lawsuit, which demands a jury trial, was filed Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by Atty. John C. Pfau of Youngstown. The case is assigned to Judge Lou A. D’Apolito.

The suit, which also names a John Doe bus driver as a defendant, says the company and its driver violated the company’s zero-tolerance policy concerning alcohol, drugs and illegal behavior and negligently and recklessly caused the Warren woman to suffer humiliation and emotional distress.

Jen Biddinger, a spokeswoman at Greyhound’s Cincinnati headquarters, confirmed that the company has such a zero- tolerance policy but declined to comment on the claims in the lawsuit.