Riding a bus in or around Fort Lauderdale typically does not come with the conscious concern that you may be injured in an accident. Bus drivers are commercially licensed, certified, and are extremely responsible in most cases, meaning that you should be able to board the bus, stow your belongings, take your seat, and arrive safely to your destination. In fact, this is the case in nearly all bus rides across the United States every day – but there are the unfortunate times when a bus is involved in an accident, which can lead to serious, even fatal, injuries for everyone involved.
If you are driving another vehicle and are involved in an accident with a bus, it is extremely important that you partner with qualified legal representation as soon as possible. These accidents are dangerous and can cause serious injuries, and the process of seeking compensation from a commercial bus company and their commercial insurance policy is going to be difficult. We are here to help.
In the days and weeks following being hurt in a bus accident, there will be a lot that you will need to take care of, all while trying to prioritize your own health and recovery. You will need to file an insurance claim with the policy representing the bus company, and if you want to be sure that you get the money you deserve — not just the money that the insurance company wants to pay — you will need to engage in some aggressive negotiations along the way. If this sounds like it will be stressful, you are correct. Insurance companies rely on the fact that claimants are typically overwhelmed and distracted by their personal issues and injuries in order to settle cases for far less than what the victims actually deserve.
Contact Bernheim Kelley Battista & Bliss, LLC Now To Discuss the Benefits Of Legal Representation
Our firm offers a free initial consultation for victims who have been injured in bus accidents so that we can discuss the specifics of your case and provide you with insight into how we can help. Our history of handling bus accident cases will give you an idea of how we have worked with victims in similar situations like your own, and seeing real-world examples of successful outcomes to these cases can give you the peace of mind that you deserve. Knowing that there is someone fighting for what you deserve can give you the confidence to focus on your recovery without taking on the additional burden of your legal stress.
Read more below for some general information about bus accidents and the resulting legal process, and contact us as soon as possible so that we can begin working for you and fighting to get you the money that you are rightfully entitled to after being injured because of someone else’s failure to keep you safe.
Who Is At Fault For a Bus Accident?
As a passenger on a bus, it is highly unlikely that you are responsible for an accident unless you were directly involved in distracting the driver or interfering with their operating the vehicle. However, if this was the case then you would likely be facing criminal charges, so it is safe to assume that you would not be reading this page or looking for a personal injury attorney to help you recover damages. This leaves a few other possible defendants: the bus driver, or another driver on the road.
If you were driving another vehicle and were involved in an accident with the bus, it is absolutely essential that we investigate all of the available information as soon as possible. Insurance companies will attempt to manipulate the original purpose of the pure comparative fault rule in Florida in order to simply offset their own financial liability by pinning unnecessary amounts of blame on you.
The reason that it is important to determine who is at fault for the bus accident is so that we know who to file our insurance claim with. In the event that another driver caused the crash, we can be certain that the bus company will provide us with all of the relevant information in order to protect themselves as quickly and clearly as possible. If, however, the bus driver caused the accident, then it may take a bit of additional work to clearly and unequivocally prove that they are at fault, since the bus company may be reluctant to come out with this admission.
Seeking Compensation For Injuries Caused By a Bus Accident
Once the fault has been clearly established, we will file a claim with the respective insurance company so that we can initiate the claims process and begin investigating the extent of your damages. The insurance company will initiate their own claim once they assign an adjuster to your case, but you will be shocked at the difference between their calculations and ours. This is because insurance companies work to identify the minimum amount that they can offer a victim to settle a claim. We, however, will work to identify all damages that you have suffered and will negotiate aggressively to get you the compensation that you deserve.
Compensatory damages are divided into two parts: economic damages, and non-economic damages. These two areas are very different but are equally important to ensure that you are compensated for all impacts that this accident has on your life. Economic damages include anything that comes with a measurable dollar value, such as your medical bills, and all impacts on your income such as missed days of work, PTO or sick leave that you cash in, or long-term reductions of your earning capacity. Non-economic damages seek compensation for things like the pain and suffering of your injuries, as well as the emotional damage that you have endured following this traumatic experience.
As you can imagine, insurance companies are much more likely to push back on non-economic damages, since they are abstract by nature and difficult to calculate. However, our firm has years of experience quantifying these types of damages and then seeking full compensation for them, and we will bring this experience to your case so that you can get the money you deserve.
