Bus companies have a strict duty to take as many precautions as possible to provide safe transportation for passengers. If you or a loved one sustained serious or fatal injuries in a crash because a bus company failed to fulfill its safety duties, OEB Law, PLLC, can help you pursue compensation for your damages.

Call us today at 865-546-1111 for a free, no-obligation case evaluation with a bus accident lawyer in Jefferson City. If you have a viable case, we can develop a legal strategy for recovering compensation for your injuries and financial losses from the bus accident. We protect your legal rights throughout every step of the process.

How Can I Receive Compensation for My Injuries?

Our attorneys can help you pursue your legal options after a bus crash. To recover compensation, we can file a claim against the bus carrier’s insurance company or file a personal injury lawsuit on your behalf.

Unfortunately, when bus companies or employees ignore safety rules and regulations, they place passengers in jeopardy of serious accidents. The large size of a bus and the lack of safety features means accidents can cause severe, even fatal injuries. If your loved one died because of a bus crash, we can discuss filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the bus company.

How Can I Identify the At-Fault Parties?

Before filing an insurance claim or lawsuit, we will first identify who and what caused the bus accident. While the bus driver may have been responsible for the crash, the bus company or bus manufacturer may share the blame. Employers are responsible for the actions employees take while they are working. The bus company in your case may have also failed in its duty to keep you safe by ignoring regulations or skipping maintenance procedures. If a defective part on the bus caused your wreck, the manufacturer may be liable for your losses.

Since Tennessee is a fault state, the party at fault for an accident pays for damages. Through our investigation, we will identify the at-fault parties whose negligence caused your damages.

Which Party Was Negligent?

We will obtain evidence showing which party’s negligence caused the accident. We collect this information based on the type of bus involved in the crash.

For example, privately owned commercial buses, such as Greyhound or MegaBus, are subject to federal rules and regulations. If your wreck involved a privately owned bus, we would send a letter to the bus company requesting electronic recording data from the bus, the bus driver’s driving log, the company’s bus maintenance inspection records, and other evidence showing how the company violated federal rules or regulations.

What If the Accident Involved a School Bus?

School bus accidents are complex. This is because public school districts can use the Governmental Tort Liability Act as a defense against lawsuits. Governmental immunity protects local, county, and state governments that operate public transportation systems.

Governmental immunity allows claimants to sue in some circumstances. Our firm knows how to handle these types of complex cases and recover compensation for school bus accident victims.

Even if you take legal action against a school district like Jefferson County Public Schools, the law limits the amount of compensation you can recover. If your accident involved a school bus, the law limits compensation to:

$300,000 to pay for the bodily injury or death of one person in a crash;
$700,000 in coverage for bodily injuriesor deaths for all people in the accident; and
$100,000 to cover property damage.

What Other Evidence Is Necessary for a Bus Crash Investigation?

We may secure a police report of the accident, photos of the accident scene photographs, or traffic camera video of the crash. We can also use your medical records to show the nature and severity of your injuries and the bills you have paid during the course of your treatment. To further build your case, we will obtain eyewitness statements about the crash.

If the bus accident involved multiple vehicles, we consult with trained specialists who reconstruct accidents to determine the cause of the wreck and the role each driver played. We will use our wide range of resources to thoroughly investigate your accident and build a strong argument supporting your right to compensation.

What Type of Damages Can I Claim?

The damages you can claim depends on several factors, including the severity of your injuries and how those injuries affect your daily life. Serious injuries, such as spinal cord damage or head injuries, can entitle you to more compensation to deal with the long-term complications you will face in the future.

You may seek economic damages for your:

Medical bills;
Hospital bills;
Ambulance transportation costs;
Rehabilitation costs;
Prescription medicine;
In-home health care;
Assistive medical devices;
Lost wages; and
Funeral expenses, if a loved one died in the bus accident.

You may also pursue compensation for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, and scarring and disfigurement.

When Should I Take Action?

In Tennessee, you have only one year from the date of the bus accident to file a lawsuit. If your crash involved a school district or other government entity, you may have even less time to act. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can start building a solid case for you.

Let Us Help You File a Claim After a Bus Crash in Jefferson City.

Rather than trying hold a bus company responsible for your accident-related injuries by yourself, let OEB Law, PLLC, help. When you contact us today at 865-546-1111, you can schedule a free, no-obligation legal consultation with a bus accident lawyer in Jefferson City.

Let us take the pressure off of you so you can recover. We will work to get you the compensation you deserve for your injuries.