Bus Accidents In South Carolina
When an accident involves two cars, the first step to recovering compensation for your accident-related medical bills is when the insurance companies determine who is at fault for the accident, or more specifically, who contributed what percentage of the negligence that led to the accident. According to South Carolina’s comparative negligence laws, the amount you can recover is your accident-related financial losses (medical expenses, vehicle repairs, and alternative transportation) times the percentage of the accident that was not your fault. Therefore, personal injury lawyers help clients negotiate with insurance companies to get an adequate settlement. They can do this by proving that the injured person bears less fault for the accident than the insurance company claims or that the injuries are the result of the accident and are not due to any other cause. These negotiations can happen with the other driver’s liability insurance company or with your own underinsured motorist coverage company. The legal issues are more complex if the accident involved a bus, and many passengers got injured. If you have been injured in an accident involving a city bus, school bus, or charter bus, contact a Columbia car accident lawyer.
Who Is Legally Responsible When Multiple Passengers Get Injured in a Bus Accident?
Collisions that involve large vehicles such as trucks or buses tend to be more destructive than those that involve two cars. If a bus gets into a collision while the driver is on duty carrying passengers, then dozens of people might get injured. At the beginning of this academic year, a bus was transporting 24 students home from school in Chesterfield County, when it got into a single-vehicle crash. Eight of the 24 students on board suffered injuries serious enough to require medical treatment.
Meanwhile, commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses are protected by more insurance to cover the cost of accidents involving these vehicles. If you get injured in a bus accident, several parties might be legally responsible. For example, the party that owns the bus is responsible for damage caused by the bus; this could mean the school district, the city, or the charter bus company in the case of a school bus, city bus, or charter bus. The driver’s employer could also bear legal responsibility if the company that is paying the driver is not the same as the one that owns the bus. If a defect in the bus caused the accident, then it could be a case of product liability, in which case the bus manufacturer is legally responsible. A personal injury lawyer can help you pursue the best avenue for seeking compensation for your accident-related medical bills after a bus accident.
Let Us Help You Today
The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you if you suffered serious injuries in a bus accident, whether the bus belonged to the city, a school district, or a private company. Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.
Source:
cnn.com/2022/08/20/us/south-carolina-school-bus-accident/index.html
