When you have suffered serious injuries in a bus accident that someone else caused, you have the right to pursue compensation for your injuries.

OEB Law, PLLC, can help you seek reimbursement for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages related to the crash. Call us today at 865-546-1111 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with a bus accident lawyer in Nashville. If you have a case, we can provide you with the best legal options for seeking compensation.

Does the Type of Bus Impact My Claim?

As a passenger, it does not matter whether you were riding on a Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority bus, a private charter bus, or a school bus. If your bodily injuries—or a loved one’s death—resulted from a bus accident, you can seek compensation. What matters is proving how another party caused the crash. If we can show someone else caused your accident and injuries, we can hold them responsible for your losses.

How Can I Hold the At-Fault Party Responsible?

Bus companies and their drivers have a duty to exercise a high standard of care when transporting passengers. These parties breach this duty when their negligence causes an accident and passengers suffer injuries as a result.

To recover compensation on your behalf, we must prove the at-fault party acted with negligence. We may do this by obtaining the police report for your crash. Video surveillance footage of the bus accident, photographs of the damaged vehicles, eyewitness testimony, and a medical report showing the severity of your injuries can also strengthen your claim.

Since a number of factors could play a role in a bus crash, we must uncover evidence showing how another party’s negligence caused your accident. If the bus driver was at fault, for example, we may find proof he or she caused the accident by:

Speeding;
Driving while drowsy or fatigued;
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol;
Sending or reading a text message while driving;
Using a hand-held phone while operating the bus; or
Ignoring traffic signals or signs.

Additionally, the bus company may have been negligent if it did not perform routine bus maintenance or failed to hire and train qualified drivers. If the bus malfunctioned because of a defective part, we can hold the manufacturer responsible for your damages.

What If My Accident Involved a Public Transit Bus?

Bus ownership helps us determine which federal or state laws apply to your case. For instance, when accidents involve commercial buses, we can file a claim with the company that owns the vehicle. In these cases, we would determine whether the bus companies violated Tennessee statutes, federal law, or their own policies.

When an accident happens involving a public transit bus, governmental immunity protects the government entity and its employees from a lawsuit. However, Tennessee’s Governmental Tort Liability Act (GTLA) can remove governmental immunity in some cases and make governments liable for damages after an accident.

Because our legal team knows what it takes under the GTLA to prove negligence on the part of a government entity or its employee, we know how to proceed with this type of claim. While we seek maximum compensation for our clients, the GTLA limits compensation to:

$300,000 in bodily injury or death coverage for each person per accident;
$700,000 of bodily injury or death coverage for all people in a bus crash; and
$100,000 to cover property damage per crash.

Whether a public or private entity operates the bus, once we establish negligence and which party was at fault for the accident, that party has to pay for your damages. This is because Tennessee is a fault state when it comes to auto accidents.

What Type of Damages Can I Recover?

Bus accidents can cause large-scale damages and serious injuries that may require hospitalization and other treatment. You may pursue compensation for expenses such as:

Medical bills;
Physical therapy;
In-patient rehabilitation;
Assistive medical devices; and
Lost wages because you cannot work.

You may also ask for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and mental anguish.

How Can a Lawyer Help?

After we build a valid claim, we will file the document and negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance representative for the commercial bus company or the governmental authority. With decades of collective experience, we know the tactics insurance companies use to try to lessen liability. If the insurer in your case offers a low settlement or unfairly rejects your claim, we can help you file a lawsuit.

Tennessee’s statute of limitations gives you only one year from the date of the bus accident to act, so contact us as soon as possible.

Call OEB Law, PLLC, Today for Help With Your Claim.

The attorneys at OEB Law, PLLC, understand the physical, emotional, and financial toll a bus accident can take on you. By calling us now at 865-546-1111, we can help you start the process to get the compensation you and your family deserve.