$80 million settlement has been reached for families of passengers killed and others who were injured on a bus that caught fire while evacuating from Hurricane Rita in 2005.

The settlement includes a prior agreement to end a lawsuit against the operator of Brighton Gardens, a Bellaire home for the elderly that ordered the buses for their residents and staff so they could evacuate to a sister facility in Dallas.

News the settlement had been reached was disclosed in a filing made today to a South Texas court by Houston attorney Richard Mithoff, who represents seven families of the 23 elderly passengers from Bellaire's Brighton Gardens nursing facility who were killed in the Sept. 23, 2005 fire.

"We believe we have accomplished something important for our clients," Mithoff said.

As Hurricane Rita made its way through the Gulf of Mexico, Brighton Gardens passengers and staff boarded two buses provided by Global Limo Inc. of Pharr, Texas. The buses were to evacuate them to Dallas, and one caught fire.

In 2007, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined the probable cause of the accident was insufficient lubrication of a rear axle, which overheated and caused a fire in the wheel well that quickly filled the 1998 bus with flames and heavy smoke.

That same year, the families of the 23 residents who died reached a confidential settlement with the facility's owners: Sunrise Senior Living Services of McLean, Va.

Attorneys representing plaintiffs in this case included Randy Sorrels, Mark Lanier, Robert Luke, Frank Branson and John O'Quinn. The group bought a similar bus for their own investigation into the fire.

"We discovered , in the course of taking depositions, too much heat generated in the hub assembly," Mithoff said. "It led us to conclude there was a design defect."

Randy Sorrels, who represented families of two of the deceased passengers, said the attorneys' investigation into the accident.

"If there's a lesson to be learned from this you just can't look at the onion and know what's in the middle," Sorrels said.

Today's settlement adds Motor Coach Industries (MCI), the bus manufacturer; ArvinMeritor Inc., the designer of the axle and rear wheel assembly; SKF Industries, a component maker; Global Charter, which was operating as the bus broker, The Bus Bank; Global Limo, the bus operator; Valley Volvo, which serviced the bus shortly before the trip to Houston; K&S Towing, which changed a tire in the wheel area where the fire began, just hours before it erupted.

Attorney John Dacus of Dallas, said the fact that MCI is settling the lawsuit, does not reflect in any way that the buses are unsafe.

"No, absolutely not," he said. "The case is settled because it's been in litigation for many years. There finally comes a point where you can no longer litigate something."

terri.langford@chron.com