Injury Claims From Accidents Involving Public Transportation

Were You Involved and Injured in a Bus Accident? Call Us Today to Evaluate Your Case

You expect to be safe when you ride on public transport. If you travel by bus, train, or subway, you should arrive at your destination without harm. It is incumbent upon public transport authorities to maintain the highest standards in recruiting and training people who operate such vehicles. These authorities must also ensure that public transports are fit for purpose and that any hazards have been removed or mitigated against.

If you are injured on a public transport vehicle, you may be able to hold the public transportation company and the city accountable. Your first step should be to hire a personal injury attorney in Los Angeles to examine your case and explain your options.

Public Transports and the Law

In most injury cases, the injured party must prove that the driver or operator was negligent. There should be evidence of their behavior, with a correlation to your injuries. Public transportation companies are also held to this standard. They are also subject to what is called “common carrier” law. This is an old legal term that refers to businesses that provide public transportation. Buses, trains, subways, taxis, trolleys, and trams are all subject to this law. Even private limousines and school bus companies must answer for their actions under common carrier law in California.

The law states that such carriers owe their passengers a higher degree of care than ordinary drivers. That makes it easier for people who have been injured on public transports to prove their case as common carrier law sets the bar higher for the carrier’s duty of care for passengers.

In many states, an injured person can invoke common carrier law in all circumstances. If you slipped and fell in a train station or cut yourself on broken glass left in a bus, you can still sue the public transportation company for negligence.

Holding the Right People Accountable

You can suffer a grave injury on public transportation. The speeds at which a train travels, the large lumbering weight of a bus, the vulnerability of a streetcar or tram—these can all put your life in danger if things go wrong. If you are seriously hurt in such a bus accident, you will be rushed to the hospital. You may need to undergo extensive treatment to set you on the road to recovery. Such injuries do not come without a high price to pay—both in physical harm and monetary setback.

While you are on your back, the expenses of your treatment will continue to mount up. So will your regular bills. You will be unable to earn an income, and you may even lose your job. If the accident caused a permanent disability, you might have to give up your livelihood altogether, leading to more financial distress for you and your family.

If you are thrown into such circumstances through no fault of your own, it is right for you to hold the people responsible for the accident accountable. If you have been robbed of your life and everything that was good about it because someone decided not to do their job or was careless in their execution of it, then you should make them pay. Hiring an attorney and building a case against the carrier responsible for your predicament is the right thing to do.

Hiring the Right Lawyer at the Right Time

There is such a thing as “too soon” after an accident. You will need time to rest, recover, and regroup. You should spend time with your loved ones before you see legal counsel. When you are ready to move forward with the legal process, you should speak with a legal professional that has extensive experience in handling public transportation injury cases.

Your lawyer will first ask you to recall the events and circumstances that led to the crash. You need not remember everything, only critical information that can help develop the right approach for the case. They will gather all the evidence they need through their own investigation.

To get the facts, your lawyer will bring in a professional investigations team. These investigators will return to the crash site and obtain copies of any street camera footage. They will also track down other passengers and people who witnessed the crash. In some instances, the investigators find people who recorded the entire accident, which can help clarify what exactly happened. The law firm will also bring in an independent medical expert who can make a statement about the nature of your injuries and their severity.

The aim of public transportation accident lawyers in Los Angeles is to get the maximum amount of money for their clients. The way to measure the effectiveness of bus crash attorneys is to look at the amount of money they have gotten for their clients. The aim of such lawyers is not to drag their clients through a long, expensive, and emotionally burdensome trial; it is rather to gather the kind of evidence that will pressure the public transportation company into settling.

Statute of Limitations

Public transportation companies tend to be run, governed, or regulated by municipal authorities. You must therefore be aware of special statute of limitations rules, including:

• A six-month deadline to notify the public transportation company of the circumstances of your accident
• A shortened deadline for filing a lawsuit against the public transportation company

Most cities are strict about meeting the deadlines and filing the proper paperwork. One of the reasons why you should hire a legal professional with extensive experience in these kinds of suits is because you cannot afford to make an error. You will not be given extra time if you do.

You should also understand that most states have caps for injury claims. These caps can be low—as little as $100,000 or less. If your injuries are especially bad, your lawyer will find a way to get you the money you need to rebuild your life.