Buses should be an efficient and safe way for people to get around Los Angeles, across California, and even travel coast to coast. Often, they are.

However, sometimes buses are involved in accidents, and when this happens, passengers on the bus, people in other cars, and even pedestrians can suffer serious injuries. Some are killed. When people are injured in a bus accident caused by the bus driver, owner, or operator, those injured deserve compensation. At Fisher & Talwar, we are ready to step up and protect the rights of the injured and their families. If you’ve been hurt or lost a loved one in a bus accident, contact Fisher & Talwar today for a free consultation.

Compensation Available for Injuries in a Bus Accident

With a bus accident lawsuit, you can recover compensation for all damages that are linked to your injuries from the accident. What exactly this means will depend on your situation. However, it might include compensation for:

  • Medical bills (past and future)
  • Lost wages
  • Diminished earning capacity
  • Ongoing disability
  • Diminished quality of life
  • Accommodations for disability, including life care
  • Wrongful death

During your consultation with a bus crash attorney, you can talk about the challenges you’ve faced since your accident. The attorney can help you link these challenges to their cause so that you can get compensation that goes beyond just paying the bills and better reflects what you are due.

Who May Be Held Responsible for Your Bus Accident Injuries

When seeking compensation for your bus accident injuries, it’s important to identify all the parties responsible for the accident. If you don’t, you won’t be able to get all the compensation you deserve. Bus accidents often have a complex web of responsibility that may include:

  • Bus company: The bus company has the ultimate responsibility for every aspect of passenger safety. This includes making sure the bus is properly maintained and the driver and other personnel are properly trained and capable of performing their jobs.
  • Bus maintenance company: If someone other than the bus company performs maintenance, that maintenance company can be held liable if the bus accident is linked at least in part to a technical problem that should have been detected and fixed by the maintenance company.
  • Bus operator: If the bus is operated by someone other than its owner, such as a tour or cruise line, they can be held responsible if one of their employees causes or contributes to your accident. 
  • Bus driver: Bus drivers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their passengers as well as all the drivers and pedestrians with whom they share the road. If a bus driver’s error, such as speeding or inattention, causes an accident, the driver can be sued for negligence. 
  • Bus and bus parts manufacturers: If a bus accident is caused by a defect in its design or assembly, the manufacturer of the defective part(s) may be held responsible under California’s strict product liability laws. Liability can extend to all those in the supply chain who passed the part on despite its defects.
  • Local and state governments: When governments operate a bus line that causes an accident, those governments can be held responsible for the consequences of that accident. However, statutes often provide liability protection to drivers, mechanics, and other government workers. 

Bus Accident Information

There are many different types of buses operating on the roads of Los Angeles and beyond. Although all types of bus accidents share some features, each one has its own special characteristics, too. It’s good to ask any potential bus accident lawyer if they have experience with the type of bus accident you were involved in. 

School Bus Accident

We trust school buses to carry our most precious cargo: our children. By and large, California school buses live up to this trust. According to National Safety Council (NSC) data, in 2023, there were only four school-bus related deaths in California, just 3% of the national total. No students were killed. Two drivers and two pedestrians were killed. This is consistent with the national data, which says that the people most commonly hurt or killed in school bus accidents are occupants of other cars or pedestrians. 

When a school bus is operated by a government agency (such as a public school district), you only have six months from the date of the accident to file a claim, not the two years that is standard in other personal injury lawsuits. 

LA Metro, DASH Bus Accident Injuries

The LA Metro is one of the nation’s largest bus systems, transporting over 700,000 passengers each weekday, with ridership surging to over 311 million trips in 2024. In downtown and other neighborhoods, this is complemented by the DASH buses, which run routes as often as every seven minutes. 

With these buses constantly moving through the city, there is a high risk of accidents. When accidents occur, the sheer weight of the bus makes the likelihood of severe or life-threatening injuries likely. 

As government entities, LA Metro and DASH have specific responsibilities to their passengers and the public. When they don’t fulfill these duties, you can make a claim for compensation. However, you typically have only six months to file a claim against LA Metro or DASH for your injuries. In addition, the law offers certain protections to drivers and maintenance crews, so you may not be able to seek compensation from as many different parties. On the other hand, LA Metro and DASH typically have enough money and/or insurance coverage to give compensation for your injuries. 

Greyhound and Interstate Bus Accident Injuries

While many buses travel short distances at relatively low speeds, Greyhound and other interstate bus companies can travel all the way from California to New York and back again. These buses travel at highway speeds, which can increase the risk of serious injury when one gets in an accident. At these speeds, the greater mass of a bus can crush small passenger cars, causing serious injury and death. The risk to passengers increases as well. In the event of an accident, they might be tossed from their seats or thrown from the bus if it flips over. 

Even when the bus is stopped, the driver has a responsibility to take care of their passengers. This might mean keeping passengers inside the bus for an unscheduled stop or only stopping at designated areas where passengers can safely get off the bus and eat, rest, or shop. An injury that occurs when the bus is stopped might still be the driver’s responsibility. 

Greyhound and other interstate bus companies are private entities. This means that their employees are less likely to have statutory protections and can be held responsible for accidents they cause, in addition to the bus company. It also means that you likely have up to two years to file a claim against these companies, as with most personal injury lawsuits. However, it’s best not to wait: evidence can begin to vanish immediately. In addition, you might make remarks to an insurance company representative that can diminish your ability to get compensation. The sooner  you talk to a bus accident lawyer, the sooner they can start working to protect your rights and collect the evidence necessary to get you the compensation you deserve. 

Charter and Tour Bus Accident Injuries

If you hire a charter or tour bus, you will likely notice that their advertising claims that they have safety as their number one priority, but their contracts try to do everything possible to keep you from making a claim in the event of an accident. While these buses claim to be safe – and most of them are – they also claim that their contracts will prevent you from getting compensation in the event of an accident. 

Although charter and tour bus companies try to limit your ability to get compensation after an accident, they can’t actually stop you from getting compensation for your injuries. Sometimes, it might be more difficult, but that just means that you need to work with a skilled and experienced bus accident attorney who can help you navigate all the restrictions that the bus company puts on your ability to get compensation. 

What to Do After a Bus Accident

It’s important to take the proper steps after your bus accident. Otherwise, you might have more difficulty getting compensation for your injuries – you might even be unable to get any compensation. 

Here’s what to do after a bus accident:

  • Get medical assistance: If there are first responders on the scene, get evaluated. If you feel you or another person needs immediate medical care, call an ambulance. If you don’t think your injuries are serious, you can get help shortly after leaving the scene. However, it’s important to get medical assistance soon after the accident. 
  • Gather information about the bus: Find out as much as you can about the bus. Get the bus’s license plate number and any other numbers on the bus itself, including a DOT number and any company identifying numbers. Get the bus driver’s name, license, and other information if you can. 
  • Gather information about the accident: Take pictures of the accident scene, including tire marks and the damage to other vehicles, even if they aren’t yours. Collect names and contact info from passengers and any other witnesses. When you have a minute, get a notebook and write down anything you can remember about the accident, including the weather and road conditions. Try to get as many details as possible now while it’s still fresh in your mind–you can begin to forget some key details immediately. 
  • Limit conversations about the Accident: Insurance companies, other drivers, and other passengers will want to question you about the accident. For insurance companies, say as little as possible. Talk to a lawyer first: they can help protect you and your rights. If authorities like the police ask you for an account of what happened, give a truthful, but focused description. Tell what cars did, rather than saying what you think they were doing or trying to do. Never report on your mental state or try to imagine what other people were thinking. 
  • Contact an attorney: The insurance company, bus company, and others will be hiring attorneys to protect their interests. If you want to protect yours, you should talk to a lawyer as soon as possible about getting help with your case. 

When you aren’t able to do any of these steps, such as documenting the scene of the accident, try to get help from friends or family to do what they can as soon as possible. 

Why Choose Fisher & Talwar for Your Bus Accident Lawsuit

When you are hurt in a bus accident, you need the help of an expert bus accident lawyer to get the compensation you are entitled to by law. At Fisher & Talwar, we are prepared to fight for you. When you work with Fisher & Talwar, you will benefit from:

  • Personal attention: Our partners will handle your case personally from start to finish. You can trust that your case is always getting the full expertise of our firm, never handed over to a junior attorney you didn’t choose. We are able to do this because we select only the cases where we believe we can really help you. We will only take your case if we believe that you will get more money working with us than either being on your own or choosing a different lawyer.
  • A firm foundation of success: We have helped many people get compensation following bus accidents. We understand how these cases work, and we know how to maximize your compensation. We are even prepared to take your case to trial if necessary. This resolve means that bus operators and their insurance companies respect us and are more likely to make reasonable offers once we are on the case.
  • No win, no fee: We handle bus accident cases on a contingency basis. That means that we don’t get paid unless we win money for you. Until we get money for your other bills, you will never see a bill from us. Your family is going through enough – you don’t need additional financial stress right now. 
  • No expenses, ever: Many law firms keep their fees and expenses separate. This means that after you pay their fee, you may be given an additional bill, which can reduce your compensation unexpectedly. Sometimes, you might be expected to pay a law firm’s expenses even if they don’t win money for you. At Fisher & Talwar, we include our expenses in our fee. That way, you always know what you’re going to pay. There’s never a surprise bill. 

Contact Us Today for a Free Consultation

If you’ve been hurt or lost a loved one in a bus accident, you may be having trouble paying your medical bills and other expenses. At Fisher & Talwar, we can help you get compensation for your injuries so you can pay your bills and take care of your family. To learn how we can help, please contact us today for a free consultation. It’s completely confidential, and there’s no obligation.

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