Bus Accident Claim: City, School and Charter Buses Differ

Public transit buses are operated by cities, counties or regional transit authorities, which are government bodies. A claim against them is governed by the state's governmental tort claims act: a written notice of claim must be filed within a short period, often 90 days to a year, damages are capped in many states, and some negligent acts are immune from suit entirely. The agency's own claims office handles the claim, and it is not an insurer with a profit motive but it is not generous either.

School buses are operated by school districts or by private contractors under district contracts. A district is a government body with the same immunity and notice rules; a contractor is a private company with ordinary liability and its own insurance, and sometimes both are responsible. Claims involving children injured on, boarding or leaving a school bus have their own body of law about the duty owed, and the driver of a car who passes a stopped school bus is liable under specific statutes.

Charter, tour and intercity buses are operated by private carriers. Those crossing state lines are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, must carry at least $5 million in liability coverage if they seat more than 15 passengers, and keep driver hours-of-service and maintenance records that become evidence. Intrastate carriers follow state rules with similar structures. No immunity applies, and the carrier's insurer defends the claim like any commercial liability claim.

A bus passenger injured in a collision has a claim against whichever driver was at fault, the bus driver through the operator or the other driver through their insurer, and against both when fault is shared. In many states a bus operator is a common carrier that owes passengers the highest degree of care, a standard above ordinary negligence, which makes claims against the operator easier to establish. Passengers are rarely found at fault.

Passengers are also injured without any collision: thrown by a sudden stop or swerve, falling in the aisle or on the steps, caught in closing doors, or injured when the bus pulled away before they were seated. These are claims against the operator for negligent operation, and they turn on the bus camera footage and the driver's account. Operators defend them by arguing the passenger was not holding on or was moving while the bus was in motion.

Pedestrians and cyclists hit by a bus, and drivers of vehicles struck by one, have ordinary negligence claims against the operator, subject to the operator's immunity and notice rules if it is a government body. Bus-pedestrian crashes are disproportionately serious because of the vehicle's mass and blind spots, and turning buses striking pedestrians in crosswalks are a recognized pattern in city transit claims.

Suppose you were a passenger on a city transit bus that was struck by a car running a red light. You were thrown from your seat and suffered a fractured collarbone and a concussion, with $34,000 in medical bills and six weeks off work. The car's driver carried a $25,000 policy.

Your claim against the car's driver was straightforward and paid the $25,000 limit. The question was whether the bus operator shared fault, since the bus driver had entered the intersection on a stale yellow. The transit authority is a government body in your state with a 90-day notice-of-claim requirement. An attorney filed the notice within weeks, obtained the bus's forward and interior camera footage by preservation letter, and presented the claim against the authority for the remainder, subject to the state's damage cap for government entities.

The footage showed the bus driver had slowed and entered on yellow lawfully and the car had run a clear red. The authority denied fault, and the balance of the claim went to your own underinsured motorist coverage. Had the notice not been filed within 90 days, the claim against the authority would have been barred regardless of what the footage showed. All figures are hypothetical.

Bus claims are governed by evidence the operator holds and deadlines that are shorter than almost any other claim.

• Get the bus number, route, operator and driver's name, and the police report number; transit agencies have their own incident reporting and the police report may be separate.
• Report the injury to the driver or operator before leaving, so an incident report exists; many passengers leave without reporting and the operator later says no incident occurred.
• Get names of other passengers and witnesses; a crowded bus has many witnesses who disperse in minutes.
• Have a preservation letter sent to the operator within days for interior and exterior camera footage, dispatch records and the driver's logs.
• Find out immediately whether the operator is a government body and what its notice-of-claim deadline is; file the notice well inside it.
• Get medical care the same day and describe the mechanism, whether a collision, a sudden stop or a fall.
• Check your own household auto policy for uninsured, underinsured and medical payments coverage, which often apply to a bus passenger or pedestrian.

Governmental immunity statutes vary in every detail: the notice period, which ranges from 30 days in a few places to a year in others; the damage cap, from under $100,000 to several million; and which functions are immune. Most states permit claims for negligent operation of a government vehicle, which covers most bus crashes, but limit or bar claims for discretionary decisions such as route design or stop placement. New York, for example, requires notice of claim within 90 days against municipal operators; California requires a government claim within six months; Texas caps damages against local governments under its Tort Claims Act.

The common carrier standard, requiring the highest degree of care toward passengers, is applied to bus operators in many states and not in others, where ordinary negligence governs. Comparative negligence applies to pedestrians and other drivers, and the contributory negligence states, Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, bar recovery for any fault. No-fault rules in Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey govern which policy pays a bus passenger's initial medical bills.

Federal rules govern interstate charter and intercity carriers: the $5 million minimum for buses seating more than 15, hours-of-service limits, and maintenance and inspection requirements, violations of which are evidence of negligence. The general injury deadline, one year in Tennessee and Kentucky, two in Texas, California, Florida and Georgia, three in New York and North Carolina, applies to claims against private operators and other drivers, but the government notice deadline is the one that catches people.

Children injured on a school bus, or while boarding or leaving one, are owed a duty that courts in most states treat as heightened, and the district or contractor is responsible for supervision at stops as well as on the bus in many circumstances. The most serious school bus injuries are to children struck by passing vehicles while crossing to or from the bus, and every state makes it an offense to pass a stopped school bus with its lights and stop arm active; the passing driver is liable, and the district's stop placement and procedures may also be examined.

Claims on behalf of a child are brought by a parent or guardian, generally require court approval of any settlement, and have deadlines that are often extended until the child reaches adulthood for the claim against a private party, but the notice-of-claim deadline against a government district may not be extended and should be treated as running from the injury.

School bus seat belt rules vary by state, and the absence of belts on most large school buses is by design under federal standards, so a seat belt argument rarely applies to a child passenger.

A bus claim is one where the first question, who operates the bus, decides whether the deadline is 90 days or three years and whether the damages are capped or not, and where the evidence is held by the operator and overwritten on a schedule. The questions to answer in the first week are who the operator is, what notice is required, and whether the footage has been preserved. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt on, by or boarding a bus, you can request a free claim review before the notice deadline passes.

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• Airbag Did Not Deploy in a Crash: Can You Sue, and Whom?
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Broken Bone Car Accident Settlement: What Drives the Value

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.