San Antonio Bus Accident Lawyer

If you suffered injuries in a bus accident, the question of whether you can seek damage compensation is a very good one, particularly if you are facing massive medical bills and lost time at work as a result of the accident.

You can seek compensation from the entity responsible for the accident. If, for example, a bus’s brakes are worn and can no longer effectively stop the bus, the company responsible for inspecting and repairing the brakes is arguably responsible for a resulting accident. Since they bore responsibility for the safe condition of the brakes, the failure of the brakes to work properly arguably constitutes negligence, or a violation of the duty of care they owed the public.

Victims of bus accidents can seek compensation for:

• Medical bills for injuries caused directly by the accident including doctor’s visits, emergency transport and care, surgery, hospitalization, prescription medication, assistive devices, physical therapy, required home care, and more.
• Wages lost from work, if the injuries prevent the victim from returning to work.
• Property damage, if the victim’s personal property (such as a car) suffers damage in the accident.
• Pain and suffering stemming from the injuries that may be physical, emotional, or mental.

Texas is a fault state. If a person or company causes an accident in Texas, victims can seek compensation from them or their insurance company.

Tragically, people die every year in Texas as a result of bus accidents. Buses are huge, and in a collision, a smaller vehicle or a pedestrian may have little or no protection from their weight and size.

Texas law provides that eligible family members can bring a lawsuit if the deceased would have had grounds to pursue a personal injury claim had they lived. (In other words, another party must bear responsibility for the death.)

These wrongful death lawsuits compensate surviving loved ones for both financial and emotional losses. They can also compensate the deceased’s estate for financial loss.

Those who are entitled to file a wrongful death lawsuit are:

• Surviving spouses;
• Children (including adoptees children and adult children);
• Parents (including adoptive parents); and
• The executor or personal representative of the deceased’s estate, if none of the above bring a lawsuit.

Note that not all family members are entitled to bring a lawsuit. Siblings, for example, cannot bring a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas, even if they are the only surviving relatives of the deceased.

Eligible family members can seek the following in damage compensation following a loved one’s death:

• Funeral costs;
• Emotional and mental pain, suffering, and anguish;
• Lost love and companionship;
• Lost services, care, maintenance, support, and counsel once supplied by the deceased;
• Lost income and financial support once supplied by the deceased; and
• Lost inheritance value, if the death affected the estate’s value.

We all know that vehicle accidents stem from many causes. Drivers may exhibit carelessness on the road. Vehicles may malfunction or not receive proper maintenance and repair. Defects can happen in the manufacturing or repair of vehicles.

Buses are no exception. Bus accidents can result from poor driver judgment or inadequate driver training, particularly if the driver does not possess the commercial driver’s license or endorsement required of bus drivers in Texas. If the latter is true, companies responsible for background and credential checks may bear responsibility for the accident. Commercial vehicles should receive regular maintenance, inspection, and repair.

If failures in these areas cause an accident, the bus company or subcontractors can bear responsibility. And component or bus manufacturers may bear responsibility if faulty production causes accidents. Other motorists may also cause bus accidents.

Finally, although we don’t usually think of pedestrians as responsible for accidents, they may bear responsibility for a bus accident. Pedestrians who try to cross a street in front of a turning bus, for example, may cause the driver to slam on the brakes and make other sudden maneuvers to attempt to avoid the pedestrian.

In short, potential responsibility is borne by:

• The driver;
• The bus company;
• Companies inspecting, repairing, and maintaining the bus, if different from the bus company;
• Companies responsible for background and credential checks, if different from the bus company;
• Component manufacturers;
• Bus manufacturers;
• Other motorists; and
• Pedestrians.

Investigators must often determine responsibility for bus accidents.

Bus accidents may involve school buses, public transportation buses, and charter buses. In Texas as a whole, regular buses are in 3,300 accidents annually, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Nineteen deadly accidents involved buses, as did 31 accidents resulting in serious injury and 274 accidents that caused non-incapacitating injuries in the most recent year for which data is available. An additional 2 fatal accidents involved school buses, as did 57 accidents resulting in serious injuries, and 274 accidents causing non-incapacitating injuries.

A statute of limitations is the time period in which accident victims can file a lawsuit. In Texas, the statute of limitations for a bus accident is two years from the date of the accident. Courts will refuse to hear a case after that point.

If you are thinking about bringing a lawsuit, however, the most prudent course of action is to consult with a lawyer as soon as you can. Don’t wait for the statute of limitations to draw closer!

The reason? Evidence such as police reports and medical records may become difficult to find or even lost. Eyewitness testimony—and even your own memory of the accident—may fade. Evidence is crucial to proving fault in a bus accident case.

If you need more information, contact a San Antonio bus accident lawyer at the George Salinas Injury Lawyers.