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Drivers must be careful when driving near school buses. Drivers may not try to pass a school bus, especially when the bus stops to pick up or drop off students. However, if a driver is hit by a school bus, they can sue for damages.
If you were hit by a school bus, you can sue the school bus driver and the school district that hired them. If a private school bus company owns the bus, you can sue the company instead of the school district. If you sue a public school district, you must be careful about navigating complex legal procedures surrounding lawsuits against governmental entities. It is a good idea to hire a lawyer to help you as soon as possible.
Call our Indianapolis, IN bus accident lawyers at Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 and ask for a free, confidential legal review to start your case.
When suing for a school bus accident, we must include everyone we believe caused or contributed to the accident. If anyone is left out, it may be harder to recover the full extent of your damages.
The bus driver is likely the one directly responsible for the accident. They may have been speeding, distracted, or poorly trained on bus safety. A thorough investigation by law enforcement may show us what went wrong and who is to blame.
School districts often employ school bus drivers. In such cases, our Indiana bus accident attorneys can help you sue the school district that hired the bus driver who caused the accident.
Just remember that public school districts are governmental entities, and special laws that protect governmental entities may apply. Even so, it is possible to sue the school, and you should do so if they are responsible.
If the bus driver works for a private bus company that has a contract with a public school, we can sue the private bus company. Since private companies are not public entities, they are not protected in the same way public schools are, and it may be a bit easier to sue them.
In Indiana, a personal injury lawsuit arising from a school bus accident must be filed no later than 2 years after the accident. Your case will be rejected if it is filed late unless very special conditions exist that allow you to have the limitation period tolled.
You can sue a public school district after being hit by a school bus. Since public schools are governmental entities, you and your lawyer must navigate specific legal procedures when filing the case.
When suing a governmental entity, such as a public school, you are required to submit a notice of your claim to the appropriate offices of the governmental entity first. Generally, notices must be submitted within 180 days of the accident. The school district has 15 days to review the claim and respond. If it accepts the claim, your case against them ends there, and they may offer compensation. If they deny the claim, you may file a lawsuit.
A school may be held vicariously liable simply because it employed the negligent bus driver. As long as the bus driver is an employee of the school district and negligently caused the accident while performing their normal duties (i.e., driving the school bus), the school district may be held vicariously liable for damages.
Vicarious liability may not apply if the bus driver was an independent contractor rather than an employee. However, the school district might be held directly liable, depending on the circumstances.
If the bus driver was intoxicated, and we have evidence that the school district knew the bus driver had a history of alcohol-related accidents, the school district may be held directly liable for negligent hiring.
No. Unlike other civil claims, the law of modified comparative negligence does not apply when suing governmental entities, such as public schools or school districts.
Instead, a pure comparative negligence rule applies. In short, plaintiffs who are even 1% responsible for an accident with a school bus cannot sue the public school or district.
Evidence can come from all kinds of places, and a thorough investigation is necessary to find everything we need to support your claims.
Most school buses have security cameras inside the vehicle to monitor the bus driver and students. If a bus driver was distracted, fell asleep, or drove dangerously or recklessly, the camera may have recorded it.
If you or other drivers in front of you or behind you during the accident had a dashcam, the video footage may be crucial to your case. These videos may help us prove that you did not cause the accident and that you were driving safely and obeying the traffic code when the bus hit you.
Witnesses who can provide testimony about the bus driver may include students on the bus. Although they may be young, students who were on the bus, particularly those sitting near the driver, may be able to explain what they saw leading up to the accident.
We can also rely on your testimony and testimony from other drivers who were around the accident.
Yes. Your accident is likely covered by auto insurance, and you can file a claim if you wish. However, you are not required to file an insurance claim before filing a lawsuit. If you file an insurance claim, you do not have to accept whatever settlement is offered. You should talk to a lawyer about the pros and cons of insurance before you begin your case.
Call our Fort Wayne, IN bus accident lawyers at Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 and ask for a free, confidential legal review to start your case.
Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.
More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.
In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.
Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.
For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.
Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.
Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.
Contact Us:
Wruck Paupore P.C.
Injury Lawyers
275 Joliet St. Suite #250
Dyer, IN 46311
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