HERMANN – The judge presiding over the civil lawsuit stemming from the crash last May of a Hermann Trolley bus that sent more than three dozen passengers to hospitals has yet to decide on a location to hear the case.

Circuit Court Judge Ryan Helfrich has received a motion for a change of venue to Franklin County from the law firm representing several of the trolley passengers who filed a lawsuit against driver Geoff Neill, Arods Transportation, which owns Hermann Trolley, and the Wine Trolley, which is part of the trolley company operation.

But the law firm representing Neill and the trolley company countered by requesting the trial be moved to Osage County. In the defendants’ answer to the plaintiffs’ request to go to Franklin County, the argument is made that Osage County is a better location for all parties because it is closer to a major regional airport. The defendants’ answer was filed in late March.

Neill, the superintendent of the Gasconade County R-1 School District, was driving the trolley with about 40 passenger — many from the Kansas City area — on the morning of Saturday, May 3, when, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol report, it went off the right side of the road while traveling west. The driver overcorrected when returning to the road, crossed the highway and crashed while headed east alongside Highway 100. The crash occurred a shot distance outside the Hermann city limits.

Most, if not all, of the passengers were rushed to Hermann Area District Hospital where they were either admitted, treated and released or transferred to other hospitals in the course of about four hours. Neill received serious injuries and was transported to a Columbia hospital.

The latest entries about the lawsuit on Case.net did not include a date for Helfrich to hear additional motions or select a location for the case.