How Long Does It Take to Settle a Bus Accident Claim?

Answer:

I recently spoke to a woman whose daughter was in a bad school bus accident in Columbia County. One of her first questions to us was, “How long will all of this take to settle?” I can understand that question. No one wants to get involved in a lengthy litigation where they have to deal with a bunch of insurance adjusters and attorneys for months on end. To answer the question, it depends on a lot of different factors. Two factors that are very important to the length of time associated with any case is, first, how severe the injuries are.

If someone is severely injured, their case is necessarily going to take a longer time to settle. In fact, if someone is severely injured, they should not even consider trying to settle their case prior to reaching maximum medical improvement. They would only be doing themselves a disservice.

Another factor that affects the time associated with a case is how reasonable the insurance company is. If the insurance company is not reasonable, that’s also going to affect the length of time associated with prosecuting the case.

In any case, you want to make sure that you find an attorney who is experienced in prosecuting claims involving bus accidents. In the case of the person who contacted me, that accident involved a school bus, so we weren’t dealing with an insurance company necessarily, but a county agency. With county agencies there are procedures that you have to comply with. If you don’t comply with them, then your claim will be barred by sovereign immunity. It will be barred before you even know that you might even have a claim.

I would urge anyone to make sure that they hire an experienced personal injury attorney, with experience in handling cases involving state and county entities. If anyone at home has been in a bus accident, we would be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Were you or a loved one seriously injured in a bus accident and want to know how long a case will take to resolve?