If you were seriously injured in a wreck, read these 6 frequently asked school bus accident questions. Contact our Stillwater lawyers today.
1) How Do I Choose the Best Bus Accident Attorney?
You need to do your due diligence. You need to search, you need to read backgrounds, you need to find someone who’s experienced with wrecks, and more importantly, someone who has dealt with school bus wrecks. You have to feel comfortable with this attorney. Find an attorney that you will trust in helping you navigate through this. Don’t wait long because the statute of limitations on a school bus is a year, and you need to make sure you give notice to the government entities involved. If in doubt, just get to an attorney as soon as you can.
2) What are the Common Mistakes to Avoid After a School Bus Accident?
When you have a child who is injured on a school bus, whether it’s in a wreck, whether it’s in an altercation with another student, or whether it’s due to some type of negligence or an intentional act of the bus driver, you need to do something about it, and that’s the biggest problem. The mistakes parents make is that they don’t do anything – “Oh, it’s not that big of a deal,” or “I think my child’s okay.” What you don’t understand is this could be a pattern with the school bus driver. He could be causing these problems on a routine basis. It could be a major injury. It could be a major problem for you or your friends, or your family, so I believe what you should always do is you should notify the school district if there’s an incident on the bus that happens and your child’s injured. I think you should always make an incident report or file a claim with the school district to protect not only yourself, but if it ever happens again, there will be actions taken against the school bus driver and you may prevent a loss of life, maybe, by taking these actions early on.
3) What are School Bus Injury Claims?
You have to investigate the case. You have the possibility of an action against the school bus driver for not being safe and not following safety rules, and you have also a cause of action and can sue the other party that caused the wreck or ran into the school bus. You have to investigate these things quickly to make sure you know all the players who are involved, and you need to make sure you understand the evidence, preserve the evidence, and prepare for presenting your case to the insurance company, or even presenting yourself in a jury trial.
4) Who is Liable for a School Bus Accident?
It is important to determine the liable party. If the bus driver causes the wreck, then the school bus driver and the school is liable. Sometimes there could be other people, third-parties involved, other insurance companies and various issues, but it’s a pretty slippery slope too. It’s not all that clear cut for the average person. I would just suggest you hire an attorney that has experience with this type of injury as soon as you can.
5) What are the School Bus Accident Statute of Limitations?
If your child or loved one was injured on a school bus in Oklahoma, you’re governed by the Governmental Tort Claim Act statute of limitation, which is one year. You have to give notice before you can file a lawsuit. So many days has to pass to have the school district make a response to you. You have to give them a chance, first, to review the claim before you file it. Again, it’s kind of a unique statute and it’s not easily understood by the average citizen of Oklahoma, so I would suggest contacting an attorney as soon as you can and put this in their hands to handle it so you don’t miss any of your rights.
6) What Types of Compensation are Available for a School Bus Accident?
If you’re involved in school bus injury, or you have a loved one who is, you can recover essentially the same damages you can in a normal wreck case. You can get your medical bills. You can get future and past medical bills. You can get future and past pain and suffering. You can get compensation if you’re injured in such a way you can never do what you love to do so much before the wreck. If you played football and now you can’t play football, you receive compensation for that. If you have any permanent impairment or temporary impairment, you can receive coverage for that. It’s basically the same types of recovery in damage you receive from a bus wreck as it is an automobile wreck.
Were you or a loved one seriously injured in a wreck and have questions? After reading these 6 frequently asked school bus accident questions, contact a Stillwater bus accident lawyer at Murray Law Firm today for a free confidential consultation and case evaluation. Let our experience work for you.
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