Bus accident injury victims can benefit quite a bit from scheduling a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney immediately following an accident. Bus accident attorneys can advise you of your right to compensation and whether you have a case.
Without professional representation, bus accident victims may not know how to document injuries, when to hold out for a better offer of compensation, and how to access quick medical treatment. Too often, injury victims trust in themselves to secure a deal with an insurance company or another party, but they may end up being severely short changed when it comes to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain, and suffering and more.
The legal team at Nadrich & Cohen serves their clients’ interest in court, guiding them through legal processes such as hearings or settlement negotiations. Our bus accident lawyers do the in-depth research to support an injury case while evaluating what amount of compensation is equitable and fair for all of the costs of care and recovery. This includes large medical bills that may result from even minor medical services and treatment.
If you or a loved one were injured in a bus accident, contact an experienced bus accident lawyer at Nadrich & Cohen to learn more about your right to compensation. The consultation is free.
We only collect a fee for our services if a recovery is made. We have office locations throughout California, with an office near you. Contact us now by calling us, texting us from this page, or completing the contact form on this page.
Don’t delay, as there are strict time limitations for filing a bus accident claim in California.
Bus Accident Compensation
If you or a loved one has been injured in a bus accident, you might qualify for financial compensation for:
Medical Bills
Bus accidents can lead to especially severe injuries. Buses often don’t have as many safety features as other vehicles. They also weigh a lot, so they can cause those in the vehicles they strike to suffer severe injuries. Severe injuries can result in enormous medical bills.
You might already be facing medical expenses due to your bus accident. You might also need medical treatment in the future because of your bus accident, and this treatment will lead to even more bills.
You may qualify for compensation for all past and future medical bills relating to your bus accident.
Lost Wages
Since bus accidents can cause severe injuries, many bus accident victims have to miss time from work. Some of them may be hurt too severely to work. Others may have to take time off to attend medical appointments.
You might qualify to be compensated for any wages you’re unable to earn due to your bus accident.
Loss Of Earning Potential
The severe injuries bus accidents can cause can cause people to be unable to ever work again, or unable to ever do the job they used to again.
You may be eligible for compensation for any loss of or reduction of your earning potential caused by your bus accident.
Pain And Suffering
Your bus crash may have caused you to experience physical pain and mental suffering.
You may qualify for money compensating you for any pain and suffering caused by your bus accident.
Wrongful Death
Financial compensation can’t bring your loved one back if you lost a loved one in a bus accident. It can, however, help prevent you from experiencing financial distress.
You might qualify for financial compensation for your loved one’s burial costs, funeral costs, pain and suffering.
You may be eligible to be compensated for the loss of your loved one’s love, companionship, income and household services.
Do I Need A Bus Accident Lawyer?
If you’ve been injured in a bus accident, you give yourself the best chances of recovering the most possible compensation for your injuries by hiring an experienced bus crash lawyer like the lawyers at Nadrich & Cohen. Studies show that injury victims recover far more money for their injuries when they are represented by a lawyer, even after attorney fees are taken into account.
Insurance Companies Are Not Your Friend
If you’ve been hurt in a bus accident, chances are any money you’re able to recover for your injuries will come from an insurance company.
The main priority of insurance companies is not to make sure you can pay your bills. Their main priority is to preserve their own profit margin.
Insurance companies preserve their own profit margin by paying you as little as possible. This means that they will not pay you what you deserve for your injuries unless you make them.
Insurance companies will almost always offer you only a fraction of what you are entitled to under California law for your injuries until you make them offer you what you deserve. How do you make them offer you what you deserve? The only way is to sue them.
Insurance companies know you can’t sue them and win if you’re not represented by a lawyer. So, if you don’t have a lawyer, they’ll never offer you what you deserve for your injuries.
However, almost all of our cases settle out of court. This is because insurance companies know that we have a long-established track record of success in court. They know that if they spend expensive legal fees to take us on in court, they’ll lose. So, they settle with us out of court to avoid legal fees.
The mere act of hiring experienced injury lawyers like the lawyers at Nadrich & Cohen is usually enough to convince an insurance company to pay you what you deserve. Hiring us sends a message to the insurance companies that you mean business, you can sue them and if you do, you will win.
It’s Dangerous To Talk To Insurance Companies
Another reason it’s important for you to hire a lawyer is so you can have a lawyer handle all communications and negotiations with insurance companies for you.
One way insurance companies try to protect their own profit margin is by training their adjusters to trick injury victims. They train their adjusters to manipulate you into saying things that imply your injuries were your fault, or that your injuries aren’t as severe as you claim.
An example is an insurance adjuster might ask you how you’re doing today. If you reply “fine,” they can use that to claim you’re not actually hurt that badly and that you don’t deserve all of the money you’re asking for.
It is very easy to fall for insurance adjusters’ tricks, and once you do so, your hope of obtaining full and fair compensation for your injuries is gone.
Call us today for a free consultation so we can talk to the insurance companies for you. We know all of their tricks and won’t fall for them.
What Should I Do After A Bus Accident?
If you are involved in a bus accident, it’s important for you to hire an experienced bus crash attorney. But first, here’s a list of things to do immediately following an accident.
Give Those Involved Medical Treatment
If you’re involved in a bus accident, you should make sure anyone involved is taken care of if you can. Ensure that passengers, family members and everyone else involved in the accident is OK. Look for a first aid kit to treat minor injuries with and to help serious injuries with until emergency responders arrive.
Even minor bus accidents can cause injuries since buses often lack safety features like seat belts and airbags. Passengers who just had surgery or were just injured are especially susceptible to injury. Buses are huge and weigh a lot, so anyone struck by a bus can be catastrophically injured or killed.
Common injuries seen in bus accidents include:
- Post-concussion syndrome
- Sprains
- Bruises
- Amputation
- Bone fractures
- Traumatic brain injuries
If you were injured in a bus accident, our bus accident attorneys can help. Our experienced bus crash lawyers can help you through the legal process, from filing a lawsuit to negotiating a settlement to, if necessary, representing you in court.
Evidence Collection
When the bus you are in suddenly gets in an accident, it is an unexpected and traumatic experience. To ensure that important details which could assist you in your case aren’t forgotten, attempt to collect any and all evidence you can regarding what happened as well as when it happened. Things that your lawyer will later find very helpful include photos of the accident as well as contact information of any witnesses.
Don’t Talk To Parties Involved
After your accident, you’ll probably receive contact from bus company representatives requesting a statement. Don’t talk to other parties who were involved before speaking with an experienced bus crash law firm. This will assist you in not making any statements which might damage your claim or cause you to end up in a counterclaim.
Contact Experienced Bus Accident Lawyers
You might receive a fast settlement offer from an insurance company or bus company after your accident. You might be in dire need of money after being injured, especially if you can’t work because of your injuries. However, don’t be tempted to accept this offer. It will almost certainly be a far smaller offer than the offer you’re entitled to under the law. Contact experienced bus accident attorneys like the attorneys at Nadrich & Cohen before accepting any offer.
Bus Accident Statistics
Bus accidents, such as casino bus accidents and accidents involving school buses, are a major source of concern for federal officials, safety advocates and anyone else tracking highway safety across the U.S.
As a category of heavy vehicle accidents, bus accidents represent a significant portion of the traffic accidents, injuries and tragic fatalities that happen each year around the country.
In general, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows evidence of several hundred bus crash fatalities each year, with injuries in the thousands. There are specific categories of bus accidents. For example, NHTSA data shows that there were 117 school bus-related crash deaths in the United States in 2018.
Safety data also shows how certain kinds of situations are most common in bus accident injuries. The above fact sheet shows that about half of school bus crash injuries involve cases where buses were in a head-on collision. In terms of what buses are doing at the time of the crash, traveling straight ahead is the top category, followed by left turns, an especially dangerous type of traffic activity that requires special care on the part of the driver.
Types of Bus Accidents
Federal officials also keep tabs on the numbers of tour bus or charter bus accidents across the U.S. Although some of these numbers are harder to come by, NHTSA estimates that school bus accidents represent only 37% of all bus accidents, leaving considerable numbers of crashes in categories related to tours, casino tour bus accidents, or other public transit.
However, some reports are suggesting that these numbers might be skewed because of the NHTSA’s definition of what constitutes a “motor coach” vehicle. A 2011 report in USA Today shows how some bus accident statistics might be distorted, which may lead to under-reporting of certain types of crashes.
Who Is Liable For A Bus Accident?
There are broad types of third-party responsibility in bus accidents that are related to any potential negligence or inattention to public safety. Tour companies or other bus operating companies can be found liable in situations where drivers or other staff members have not been properly licensed, screened or trained, or where specific safety protocols have not been set up or followed.
The companies making the vehicles can also be held liable if the bus involved is not in safe and serviceable condition due to any defects or design problems. In addition, some bus accident cases involve negligence by a third party, for example, where a tour bus case goes to a given location, tour participants get out and someone becomes injured because of unsafe premises.
Since many bus companies are public entities, a claim for damages is complex and there are strict time limitations for making a claim. The laws regarding bus accident claims are complex, and you need an experienced law firm like Nadrich & Cohen by your side. Our bus accident lawyers have successfully handled many claims against municipal bus companies. If you have been injured in a bus accident, either as a passenger, pedestrian or driver/passenger of another vehicle, you have a claim for your personal injuries. To learn more about your right to compensation in a bus accident lawsuit, immediately call us for a free consultation.
Unique Risks Of Bus Accidents
Injuries in bus accidents can also be different than the average traffic accident injury. For example, drivers of cars and trucks often experience things like whiplash and soft tissue damage on impact. Bus passengers can experience different kinds of injury, though.
One unique aspect of bus travel is that there are often no restraints provided in the form of seat belts and airbags, safety designs that come built into smaller vehicles. That means there’s a particular burden on the bus driver to maintain safety.
Buses are also uniquely vulnerable to rollover accidents because of the ways in which they are built and their centers of gravity. Rollover accidents can generate serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injury or cranial or spinal impact with the top of the vehicle. As a result, bus companies are required to build buses with a certain amount of tensile strength in roof areas so that the top part of a bus can withstand a certain impact, keeping everyone inside safer. The federal government has mandated that the roofs of buses must be able to hold 1.5 times the vehicle’s own weight while allowing less than 5 inches of “roof crush.”
Casino Tour Bus Accidents
If you have been injured in a casino bus accident, you may have a claim and be entitled to compensation. This compensation may include medical bills, lost wages and other past, present, and future economic and non-economic losses. If a loved one has been killed in a casino bus accident, you may have a legitimate wrongful death claim.
Many casino buses have video cameras which may have valuable information about the crash or the events that led up to the crash. Additionally, there are laws governing the amount of time during which a lawsuit can be filed. As such, it is essential to contact a qualified personal injury attorney to discuss the facts and circumstances of your case as soon as possible. Casino bus accident cases are taken on contingency. This means there is no cost to you unless we win your case.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a casino bus accident in California, contact Nadrich & Cohen today for a free consultation by calling us, texting us from this page or completing the contact form on this page. Our lawyers handle casino bus accidents throughout the state. We work solely on a contingency fee basis, so there’s no upfront cost to you for our services. Don’t wait, call us now to learn more about your legal rights and legal options.
Duty of Care of Bus Drivers
You should know that casinos and private bus companies owe their customers a duty of care. For example, drivers have a duty to follow traffic rules. This means they should not speed, drive through red lights or turn from the wrong lane. It also means they should drive below the posted speed limit when certain conditions, such as bad weather, make following the speed limit unsafe. Drivers also have a duty to their passengers. For example, drivers should not start or stop the bus suddenly, which could result in injury. Drivers should not depart before passengers are safely seated. Finally, drivers should drop their passengers off at a safe location.
Duty of Care of Agency Hiring Bus Drivers
Agencies have a duty not to hire bus drivers who are not qualified to operate such a vehicle. Agencies should not simply take the word of an applicant, but rather should confirm the driver has the requisite license to operate the coach in question. Further, background checks are a must. Where appropriate, screening to determine potential drug or alcohol use should be implemented.
Duty of Care Regarding Bus Maintenance
Depending on the circumstances, either the casino, the bus company or both may bear the duty of care regarding the maintenance of buses used in casino bus tours. Buses should be subject to regular maintenance. Some of the many points of inspection include making sure tires are properly inflated and in good condition, brakes are working properly, and the windshield wipers are not only in working order but sufficient to clear the windshield of rain, sleet, or (depending on location) snow. Generally speaking, buses should be free from defect. A bus manufacturer or bus company may be liable for a bus defect.
Additionally, the interior of the bus should be maintained in a manner that ensures the safety of the passengers. For example, spills should be cleaned up quickly to reduce, if not eliminate, the potential for slips and falls. Steps should be clearly marked with bright reflective tape to avoid falls and other injuries. If the bus comes equipped with seat belts, these should all be in working order.
Request A Free Consultation
Contact an experienced bus accident attorney at Nadrich & Cohen if you or a loved one has been injured or killed due to a casino tour bus accident. Put our legal team’s experience to work for you. We never collect a fee for our services, unless a recovery is made. Call us today, text us from this page or complete the contact form on this page for a free, confidential consultation.
