Buses can carry dozens of passengers at once. When a bus crashes, the accident can injure a lot of people. Whether the accident was caused by your bus driver or another driver who hit the bus, the victims should be entitled to fair compensation for their injuries.
For help getting compensation in your bus accident case, consider working with our attorneys. Bus companies often have insurance to cover crashes, but the rules of insurance might block you from getting full compensation for pain and suffering and other non-economic damages.
For a free evaluation of your case, call the bus accident lawyers from Legal Care New Jersey today at (732) 838-9769.
Types of Bus Accidents in Clifton, NJ
There are many different types of buses that operate in the Clifton area, and you can fight for compensation in different ways depending on the specific kind of bus accident you were involved in.
Charter Bus Accidents
Charter buses are often hired by organizations and groups for trips. If you are involved in an accident during one of these trips, it is possible that the organization hosting the trip could actually be responsible for your injuries. Alternatively, the negligent driver will usually be directly responsible, and if that was the bus driver, then the charter bus company they work for might share responsibility.
NJ Transit Bus Accidents
NJ Transit operates buses in and around Clifton, NJ. NJ Transit is state-owned, which makes a lawsuit against it even more confusing. There are usually notice requirements, giving you a shorter time to start your case than you would normally face when suing a private person or entity. There are also different rules for when damages can issue and how much they can be for.
School Bus Accidents
School bus drivers are usually screened for safety to help ensure that children get to and from school safely. However, mistakes can happen, and school bus drivers can cause accidents. Other drivers might not be as safe as school bus drivers, and there have also been many school bus accidents where another driver crashed into a bus. If you or your child was injured in a school bus crash, our bus accident attorneys can help you fight to get the compensation you need.
Other Buses
Buses operated by companies like Greyhound and Megabus often travel through the area or even travel directly to and from Clifton. These buses are often operated by drivers who spend long hours on the road on repetitive routes and who could cause accidents because of tired driving, distracted driving, or simple lazy driving after a long shift. These buses are huge and often carry a lot of people and luggage, making them incredibly heavy. That means they can cause serious damage and injury in crashes because of the increased momentum and forces involved.
Suing for Bus Crashes in Clifton, NJ
If you were injured as a passenger on a bus, then you should be covered by the bus driver’s and the bus company’s insurance. Buses and the companies that operate them often have high-dollar insurance because they know they will have a lot of passengers under their insurance in the event of a crash – and they know that crashes are bound to happen sooner or later. As such, these insurance policies can cover a lot, but there are still legal restrictions on what is covered and when.
No-Fault Restrictions
New Jersey uses no-fault insurance rules that block damages to victims for pain and suffering and other intangible damages like emotional distress and mental anguish unless those victims suffer “serious injuries.” Unless you have qualifying injuries, most no-fault insurance policies will only cover your economic damages, like lost wages and medical bills. But those are only covered to a certain extent as well.
When driving another car, your insurance might actually be better than the bus company’s. Your own insurance should cover you if you were injured in your car, and drivers may opt for an “unlimited right to sue” policy that protects their right to file a lawsuit and seek pain and suffering damages even without “serious injuries.”
Nonetheless, if your injuries are indeed severe, then you could be able to sue the driver that caused the crash anyway. Our lawyers can help you determine if your injuries meet these threshold requirements.
Suing Bus Drivers vs. Bus Companies
If the bus driver caused the crash, then you may be able to sue the company they work for as well as the individual driver. If a bus company employee causes a crash through negligent acts while working as an employee for the bus company, a principle called “respondeat superior” can allow you to sue the company they work for instead of the individual driver. This principle holds that the company should answer for their employee’s mistakes, and it is often used against bus companies and other commercial transportation companies.
Bus companies could also be directly responsible for a crash, at least in part. Bus companies, not the drivers they hire, are usually responsible for vehicle upkeep. That means most mechanical issues will be their fault. Bus companies are also responsible for hiring drivers that conform to licensing requirements and other bus regulations, but they also must hire drivers who are reasonably safe. Negligence in the hiring process that later leads to foreseeable crashes and injuries could also be the bus company’s fault. This issue is similar to negligent retention, which occurs when a bus company fails to fire a driver that caused a serious crash in the past or had drunk driving issues reported to them.
Call Our Bus Accident Attorneys Today
Call Legal Care New Jersey’s bus accident attorneys today for a free case review by dialing (732) 838-9769.
