NEW ORLEANS The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld two lower court decisions that the Louisiana highway department was as much to blame for the horrible Mother's Day 1999 bus crash near here as the sick, drug-taking driver who lost control of the coach.

The high court refused to review rulings by the lower courts.

With the refusal, the plaintiffs lead attorney said he had sent letters demanding the state pay its $5 million self-insured limit, plus interest and costs, and the states insurers pay what he said is their $70 million limit.

The money would pay settlements of 38 pending lawsuits.

The state had appealed Julys 3-2 ruling by a panel of state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal judges that upheld an earlier ruling by Civil Court Judge Rosemary Ledet. Last year, Ledet assigned the state and coach driver Frank Bedell 50 percent shares of blame for the grisly May 9, 1999, crash. (See Aug. 1 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Bedell, 46, a drug user in chronically poor health, died of a heart-related ailment three months after the crash.

The accident happened when the bus Bedell was driving veered off Interstate 610, smashed through a wooden guardrail and went airborne before landing in a ravine. Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case argued, and the courts agreed, the road was hazardous.

"We find that the negligence of Mr. Bedell in losing control of the bus, combined with DOTDs failure to design, install and properly maintain a safety system capable of redirecting the bus, equally caused the harm to the passengers on the bus," said the majority 4th Circuit opinion. Two appeals court judges dissented, saying the state deserved less liability.

The 4th Circuit sent the case back to Ledet to decide how much money to award the plaintiffs in each of pending suits. Ledet has tried several of the individual suits but reserved her rulings while the issue of liability was pending at the state Supreme Court.

Survivors of the bus crash and the families of those killed have long since settled with other defendants, in addition to the coach operator, Custom Bus Charters, including MCI; Casino Magic, which paid part of the cost of the bus trip, and a Tenet Health Systems internist who cleared Bedell to continue driving even though he was suffering from congestive heart failure.