Fostoria Bus Accident Lawyer 

Being involved in any type of accident is difficult enough. But when the collision involves a bus, the situation can quickly become very serious. While even accidents between small cars can cause severe injuries, any collision with a bus will likely total a car and may permanently injure the car’s occupants.

Not only are bus drivers responsible for protecting other drivers and their passengers, but they are also required to care for the well-being of their own passengers.

If you have been injured due to a collision with a bus while driving your own vehicle or were a passenger on a bus during an accident, contact a Fostoria bus accident lawyer. A skilled personal injury attorney can fight to obtain the maximum compensation for you to protect your rights against aggressive insurance companies.

Bus Accident Negligence

All claims for personal injury in Ohio are governed by the common law. In short, the common law is a collection of court rulings that have been compiled over the years. Because courts are required to follow their previous decisions, this establishes a legal standard. One of the basic legal standards is the cause of action known as negligence.

Negligence allows people who have been injured in accidents due to the irresponsible behavior of others to collect compensation from the at-fault party. The negligent party in bus accident cases may be the driver, the driver’s company, or even the local government.

Proving Negligence in Ohio Bus Accident Cases

Negligence has five portions, or elements, that all plaintiffs must be able to prove in order to win their claim. These are:

• Duty: In certain specific situations, the law places a responsibility on people to protect others, known as the duty of care. All drivers assume a duty to care for other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. In bus accident cases, the driver also has a duty to care for their own passengers. This is known as the common carrier rule
• Breach: If the person with the duty of care takes an action that causes his protected party to become hurt, the duty is said to be breached. This can be done by either taking an action, such as speeding, or failing to take an action, such as ignoring a stop sign. If these acts result in a collision, there is a breach of the duty of care
• Cause: All plaintiffs in negligence cases must be able to show that their injuries were caused by the breach of the duty of care. If a person strains their neck after being rear-ended by a bus, this can certainly qualify. But if the plaintiff already had a strained neck, they cannot claim that the collision caused the injury
• Scope: The injuries suffered in the accident must have been foreseeable from the facts of the case. This is usually fairly simple to demonstrate since collisions with buses can result in serious injuries, but if a passenger in the bus is making a claim, someone may have a more difficult time depending on the injury they are claiming
• Damages: The plaintiff must have suffered an actual physical harm. Other damages, such as lost wages or mental anguish, can certainly be a large part of a case but are insufficient to stand alone. All negligence cases require a foundation of physical injury

Understanding the Statute of Limitations

Even if all of these elements are satisfied, a plaintiff may still lose their case if they cannot satisfy the statute of limitations. This is a time limit imposed on all plaintiffs by the courts within which the plaintiff must initiate their case.

If this deadline passes, the plaintiff’s case will be dismissed. Ohio Statute 2305.10 gives plaintiffs only two years from the date of the accident to start a case. Time is of the essence in all cases, so contacting a Fostoria bus accident lawyer is of the utmost importance.

Consulting a Fostoria Bus Accident Lawyer

Being involved in a bus accident can change a person’s life. From the required medical treatment to missed time at work to long-lasting injuries, the process is certainly an ordeal. The insurance companies handling the claim are no help, as they often try to minimize your injuries or even blame the accident on unrepresented plaintiffs.

Let a Fostoria bus accident lawyer handle the insurance company so that you can place your focus where it belongs: on getting your life back to normal. Whether your claim is against a private bus company or a city bus, your legal advocate can try to identify all of the possible defendants and initiate the claim in a way that works towards the full compensation that you deserve.