Our Lawyers Can Help You Recover after a Texas Bus Accident
Mass transit is more than just a way to help reduce the amount of pollutants released into the air. With the state of the economy the way it is, it’s become a viable method of getting around town while saving some significant money.
There are more buses traveling the roads than ever. The economy is squeezing organizations as well, forcing them to rely more on charter buses than individual means of transportation for corporate outings, church trips, and the like.
Since there are more buses in use, that means there are more chances for someone to be involved in a bus accident, whether it’s a single-vehicle crash or the bus is involved in a collision with a car or truck. These kinds of accidents can result in debilitating injures, and determining liability can be an incredibly complex process. If you or a family member should suffer an injury due to a bus accident, the bus accident attorneys at our Law Office are ready to help you get fair restitution.
Litigation of cases involving accidents with city-owned buses, school buses, or others can be very complicated. Government agencies enjoy a certain amount of latitude and even immunity in some cases when these types of accidents arise. When a privately owned charter bus is involved in a crash, a case can be very challenging because that company’s insurance provider will pose a formidable roadblock to your lawsuit. Many times, charter buses are used by clubs, churches, and other organizations when their members take long trips. These charter buses are many times poorly maintained mechanically, and often have worn or otherwise defective tires. Attorneys with our Law Office have run across this unfortunate occurrence many times in the cases we have litigated successfully for our clients.
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How Safe are Passenger Buses?
A bus can weigh up to 15 tons or more. Although they are immense, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily safe. In a typical collision between vehicles, the bigger one normally wins out. But when a bus runs over or hits an object, its mass can work against it. The typical passenger compartment of a bus can’t support itself adequately under the weight of the bus and is prone to suffering extensive damage in the event of a collision as a result. This is mainly due to the fact that buses are normally built using a body-on-frame configuration.
Contrast that with most modern automobiles, which are built using uni-body construction. This means there is no difference between the frame and body. A car’s body is usually made of several stamped steel pieces that are welded together, making its mass-to-rigidity ratio very favorable. What that means for you is that most cars in production are very safe. Buses, on the other hand, have a body mounted on a ladder-frame chassis. The frame itself is very durable, but the body is fairly weak. As a result, it is often crushed under the weight of the rest of the bus.
In lawsuits involving a bus accident, there could be other parties involved besides the owner or driver of the bus that may share responsibility for your injury. This just adds to the complexity of this kind of litigation and underscores even further the need for an experienced bus accident attorney working on your side.
No matter what kind of bus has been involved in the accident that has caused your injury, or whether you were on the bus or were in a car hit by a bus, you will have to bring forth convincing evidence in order to have a chance at winning your case. You will also need an effective plan of attack. These kinds of accidents can mean severe injuries, ranging from whiplash to spinal cord damage to other injuries, and even death. If you or a family member has suffered a loss due to a bus accident, call the bus accident attorneys at our Law Office for a confidential and free consultation. This type of case, as we mentioned previously, can be very complex; you need the experience of a seasoned attorney who can help you get the maximum compensation you deserve.
Litigation Involving a Bus Company
As previously mentioned, bus accidents can lead to disabling injuries, massive medical bills, and death. A wide variety of factors can come into play and result in a bus accident, and most of them aren’t the victim’s fault, obviously. Some of these factors include the negligence of the driver, a poorly maintained bus, hazardous road conditions, broken or faulty parts (such as windows or seats), dangerous driving as it relates to weather conditions or improperly planned routes.
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How an Attorney Can Help You
It doesn’t matter how you were injured in a bus accident, whether you were a pedestrian, bus passenger, or the driver of a car hit by the bus. You could be eligible to receive compensation for the injury. The attorneys at our Law Office have successfully tried many bus accidents throughout the state of Texas, and we can help you as well. You can seek legal action against several different entities involved in the accident, and we have 20 years of experience making sure those responsible for bus accidents are held accountable. Bus operators owe you a legal duty of care in ensuring your safety. When the driver of the bus causes an accident that results in injury or death, that duty has been violated. Thus, the injury victim or family member has grounds to pursue litigation in an attempt to obtain monetary compensation for the losses that have been incurred.
As long as damages have been incurred you can pursue restitution, even if the cause of those damages was a public entity such as a local government agency. As we noted before, there are several distinct differences between public bus owners and private bus companies. A bus line run by a public entity often enjoys protection from some types of legal action on account of laws that give governmental agencies some basic immunity from lawsuits filed by private citizens. But that doesn’t automatically mean you don’t have a claim. In certain instances, you may be able to file a claim against the public agency responsible for your injury. However, it takes the skill and experience of a bus accident attorney to ascertain that liability through an investigation.
The many varieties of devastating injuries that can result from a bus accident include brain and spinal cord injuries, burn injuries, and bone fractures. Injury victims can incur huge medical expenses. Some may not be able to return to work because of their injury. The bus accident attorneys at our Law Office will work tirelessly to ensure our clients get the just compensation they deserve to get their lives back on track.
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Why Do Bus Accidents Happen?
Buses are, by nature, not only very heavy and big, but awkward to drive as well. Even under the best conditions, they can be very difficult to operate. Combine that awkwardness with a poorly trained or novice driver, and you have the potential for disaster. Experienced drivers can be overworked or easily distracted, leading to an accident. We have even seen accidents caused by bus drivers who were drunk or under the influence of drugs.
Often times, an accident is caused by a poorly maintained bus. Because a bus is so large and generates so much momentum, its braking system has to continuously be in top working order. This and other maintenance work means that the bus is not on the road, and not generating revenue. So some bus owners may choose to overlook maintenance issues, and that can cause massive problems.
Other factors in bus accidents include improperly planned routes, hazardous road conditions, and buses overloaded with either passengers or cargo. We have even seen instances where the absence of safety equipment played a role in injuries occurring. Our attorneys will conduct a detailed investigation of the bus accident that injured you to make sure that all parties involved are held responsible and that all liable parties pay.
But it’s often not as simple to determine those liable parties as you may think. The reason is that most of the time, there are several people and entities that may share liability. Bus drivers can be reckless, careless, or flat-out incompetent. They might run stop lights, ignore traffic warnings and conditions, speed, or make dangerously illegal turns. They, and the companies that employ them, are but two of the potentially liable parties.
The owner of a private bus line is easier to place liability on than is a governmental agency that owns a bus involved in an accident that causes an injury. In the eyes of the law in most states, owners of private buses are referred to as “common carriers.” As such, they have a higher level of responsibility when they are on the road. They have to show a higher level of care in protecting not only their own passengers but also other motorists on the road. It is typically fairly easy to establish liability toward a common carrier. When a governmental authority owns or operates a bus, however, it is much more difficult. Even when it is obvious such a bus is to blame for an accident, governmental immunity can make pursuing legal action nearly impossible. In this kind of instance, it is critical that you have an experienced bus accident attorney working to protect your rights.
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Gathering Evidence and Conducting an Investigation
Since you, the plaintiff, bears the burden of proof in your case, you have to have evidence to establish that proof. Investigations not only help determine the cause of the accident but also who was at fault. There could have been several motorists also involved in the crash they may have played a role in its cause. The improper maintenance of the bus could have been the main cause. Without an investigation, however, there might be no way of making sure who needs to be held liable in your case. With one, however, you can rest assured the truth will be uncovered and the necessary evidence provided to satisfy your burden of proof.
Our Law Office has a group of experienced and effective investigators who know how to gather evidence, such as 911 call recordings, potential video footage or photographs, and physical evidence. They also know how to look for the employment records and drug test results of drivers, and know how to examine and categorize all of that evidence in order to fully support your case. You have to have compelling evidence to have any chance at winning your case – without it, you have no shot. We can bring forth that necessary evidence, either to compel the defendant to offer a fair settlement, or to use it against that defendant in a trial. And there is no out-of-pocket charge for this service for the client.
We know you have experienced severe trauma, and seeing that an investigation is launched into the cause of your accident might be one of the farthest things from your mind at this time. But you have to know that the defense is already marshaling forces to defeat your case, and part of that entails conducting their own investigation. They do so immediately after an accident occurs so that they can gather the evidence before it disappears, as so often happens in these kinds of cases. Changing weather conditions or clean up at the scene are but two factors that play a role in the loss of evidence. The defense team knows that the best evidence only lasts for a short time, and they have already acted to gather it. That is why you need to act just as quickly as you can to find an attorney; the more time it takes for you to seek legal help, the less of a chance you have to win your case. That’s unfortunate, but it’s a cold, hard fact.
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The Four Elements of a Successful Case
In order to win a case, you have to prove four legal elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. In legal terms, you are owed a “duty of care” by others not to be harmed, just as you owe that duty of care to everyone else. Basically, that means you have a duty not to expose other people to the harm that may be inherent in the actions you take. If you’re driving, you owe a duty of care to your fellow motorists to drive in a safe manner, and they owe that same duty of care to you. In the case of your bus accident, it is the duty of the driver to pay attention to all traffic warning signs, obey all traffic laws, to not speed, and to not be fatigued, distracted, or under the influence of any substance.
If the defendant is found to have failed to employ a reasonable standard of care and harmed you as a result, that defendant will be found to have “breached” the duty of care you are owed. A breach of duty occurred when the bus driver’s negligence led to your injury or the death of a loved one. There are a number of ways negligence can occur, such as driving while under the influence, driving while fatigued, or driving while distracted.
The next element to prove is causation, which simply means proving your injury was caused by the negligence of the defendant. If you can’t prove the defendant caused your accident, you cannot win your case.
The fourth element is damages or the monetary value applied to your injury and all the accompanying medical expenses, lost wages, emotional trauma, and other difficulties you’re experiencing as a result of your accident. You can’t merely ask for compensation; you’ll have to spell out and prove exactly how much you should get. Your damages have to be carefully and deliberately calculated in order for you to get the maximum amount of restitution you deserve. It may sound harsh, but you’re basically being asked to put a price tag on your suffering and loss. But you need hard evidence to support that monetary amount, and you can bet the defense will claim you’re asking way too much – that you’re basically begging for a handout. It’s hard enough for a novice lawyer to put that “price tag” on your damages; it’s basically impossible for a layperson. So you need a seasoned bus accident attorney to not only determine the accurate amount of your damages but to provide the compelling evidence needed for you to support that demand.
You may be able to obtain damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses, repair bills, lost wages, loss of potential earning capacity, and several other losses you have incurred as the result of the accident. If you are lacking the necessary evidence, and you can’t make a compelling argument, you won’t get a dime.
Pre-Trial Settlements vs. The Court Process
Your case will have one of two outcomes: you will either reach a settlement with the liable party and avoid a trial, or you will be unable to reach a settlement and your case will have to go to court. There are times where an effective bus accident attorney can reach a just settlement. In this kind of instance, the defendant’s insurance provider will pay a certain monetary amount without being compelled by a judge or jury to do so. They would rather do this than risk losing substantially more money should they lose a trial. In return, you forfeit your right to sue that insurer for even more money. So it is critical that you understand that, if you agree to an inadequate settlement, that’s it. You have just given up your right to pursue any further legal action.
Sometimes, insurance companies will try and goad you into accepting a bad settlement just because it’s fast money. You’ve incurred a lot of expenses, so they hope you’ll take the quick check and they can be done with you. They figure you’ll take it even though it won’t come close to covering your expenses because you need the money now. You’d be surprised how many injury victims fall for that ploy.
They will also ask you to sign a document in order to receive that compensation. But that is in the insurer’s best interests – not yours. NEVER agree to any kind of settlement, and NEVER agree to sign anything, without consulting with an experienced attorney first. You shouldn’t even discuss the case with the opposition without having a lawyer present to protect your rights.
Call an attorney with our Law Office as soon as you possibly can. It could make the difference between you getting fair compensation for your accident, and getting nothing at all for the pain or loss you have experienced. We’re available 24 hours a day. We’ll give you a confidential and free consultation and clearly spell out all legal options you may have.
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