Mistakes After a Bus Accident

Answer:

What are common mistakes that people make in bus accident claims? We were recently contacted by a man who was on Augusta public transit when the bus driver took off too fast. This individual fell and hurt his back. If you’re watching this at home, you may have gone through something similar or you may have been hurt in a bus accident.

One of the biggest mistakes that this man made, and a mistake that we’ve seen before, is that he did not immediately report it to the bus driver because he didn’t really think that he was hurt. He made no type of incident report at all. He simply got off the bus at his stop. Later on that night, he started having back pain, and the next day he was at the doctor’s office.

The fact that he hadn’t report the incident, had no idea who around him had witnessed it, and didn’t even know the name of the bus driver put him in a complicated position where he was having to fight even more of an uphill battle in order to make a claim against the city. Another mistake that I see people make is that they delay in getting legal representation. If you are reading this, I would urge you to get an attorney as quickly as possible.

Bus accidents are different. In this man’s case, it was an accident that happened on the city bus. Chances are, if you have a claim as the result of a bus accident, it’s going to be a city bus, or possibly a school bus. It’s going to be a county-owned bus, state-owned or city-owned bus, and there are specific rules that you have to follow in order to bring claims against cities, counties and states. These rules are different in every state, and they are set up to where you do not comply with them, your claim is barred. It doesn’t matter how negligent the bus driver was; it doesn’t matter how badly you’re hurt; it doesn’t matter that you could’ve brought that same exact claim against another driver. It only matters that you didn’t comply with the procedural requirements and now your claim is barred sovereign immunity.

If you have been injured in any type of bus accident, particularly involving any kind of city-, county- or state-owned bus, hire an attorney as soon as possible. Hire one who has experience not only prosecuting claims involving personal injuries, but also has experience in handling claims against county and state entities.

Claims involving buses are similar to other personal injury cases, but they also are different. If you’ve been injured in a bus accident, we would be more than happy to sit down and answer any questions that you have.

Were you or a loved one seriously injured in a bus accident and have questions about what mistakes to avoid when filing a claim?