Bus
Bus accident victims and their families have a right to seek personal injury and wrongful death damages caused by careless bus drivers and their companies.
Those responsible for these accidents should be held accountable and safety improvements made. There are usually a number of weak links in the chain of events which lead up to an injury or death - negligent operators, negligent supervision, poor maintenance, design flaws, failed parts, faulty reporting, etc. Each individual or group responsible for one or more factors may be called upon to pay a portion, or even all, of the compensation due the injured person or family members. Each of those entities may be situated in a different state and the harm may have occurred in yet another state.
As soon as we are hired by a client in a bus crash case, we begin to conduct an independent investigation of the disaster. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as well as state entities often conduct their own investigation into the crash. Representatives from the bus company as well as the manufacturer of the bus are allowed to be participants in the NTSB's investigation. Unfortunately, NTSB rules do not allow any representatives of injured victims or the families of those killed to participate in the investigation. We have come to believe it is vital to conduct a completely independent investigation on behalf of our clients in order to determine the cause of the crash.
After we determine the cause of the disaster, the next step is to attempt to negotiate a settlement of the case with the insurance company for the at fault party or parties. The negotiations can take anywhere from several weeks to several months depending upon the position of the insurance company and the goals of our clients. Throughout the process we keep our clients informed of our progress.
If negotiations fail to produce a client's desired results, we proceed to litigation. Any such lawsuit may well involve more than one state's law or court system, and numerous complex choices and decisions may have to be made to maximize recovery or streamline procedures. We discuss these complexities with our clients, and advise them of the strategic choices we think they should make. The client is always in control-and is free to accept or reject our advice.
Our goal is to achieve the maximum recovery we can for our clients-and to make transportation safer by correcting the mistakes that led to our clients' injuries.