Back To School...Accidents? Approaching These Incidents Cautiously
Every year parents hear these nightmare stories of bus accidents and worry that it might be the bus their children ride. Sometimes the accidents occur because other drivers are not obeying the rules of the road where school buses are concerned. The rest of these accidents are mistakes or poor choices the drivers have made, or poor hiring decisions on the part of the bus companies. If your child was just in a bus accident and was one of the unfortunate children injured, here is how to approach this accident cautiously, but still get what you deserve.
Contact a Personal Injury Attorney
Without fail, contact a personal injury attorney right away. If the bus company or the school district tries to contact you and get you to sign something, DO NOT SIGN IT. They will try to reach out to you, try to empathize, and then they may try to get you to relinquish them of any responsibility to your child's injuries. Tell them you will have to talk to your lawyer first, even if you do not have a lawyer yet. It gets them to back down, but it also may ramp up their efforts to get you to sign something. Do not take their calls and hire a lawyer as soon as you can. The lawyer can intervene on your behalf and stop any calls they make.
Find out the Circumstances for the Accident and Sue the Correct Party
It is difficult to know who to sue in these bus accident cases unless you can figure out who is at fault. Get a copy of the police report for the accident. Because your child is a minor and a passenger on the bus in the accident, you can request a copy of the police report after the police have finished any investigative work that needs to be done. If the police refuse to give you a report, your lawyer can get a copy with a court order.
If the driver was DUI, sue the driver. If the driver was at fault for failing to obey traffic laws in regards to buses, sue the driver. If the bus malfunctioned and was having problems before, sue the bus company. If the driver had some personal or mental health issues but was hired by the bus company anyway, sue the company. If other drivers are clearly at fault for failing to follow traffic laws regarding school buses, sue the other drivers. Finally, if the school tries to cover it all up, sue the school district, because they should not be trying to hide something that awful. Your lawyer will be able to help you make the best decision.
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