You trust a bus service to get you where you need to go safely, but when an accident occurs, you may not be sure how to hold anyone accountable for your losses.
Victims with financial losses like medical bills, physical injuries, and emotional trauma benefit from utilizing a Charlotte bus accident lawyer who will pursue fair and just compensation for you.
At Shane Smith Law, founded in 2009, a free and confidential consultation with our Charlotte personal injury lawyer can answer all of your questions.
An Established Lawyer Safeguards Your Right to Compensation
A child traveling to school on a bus or a person commuting to and from work each day depends on the promise of safety from the bus company, operator, and others who share the road with you.
Yet, each year, thousands of people suffer injuries from negligence in bus accidents. With the risk of catastrophic injuries, hiring a bus accident attorney in Charlotte could be critical for several reasons:
- Who owns the bus matters. A variety of bus services exist throughout Charlotte and the surrounding area. Whoever is providing services plays a role in the responsibility they have for your injuries. An attorney helps you navigate this area, including seeking a claim against the City of Charlotte.
- Insurance companies will try to negate their responsibility. Doing anything they can to reduce their liability is a critical step for insurance companies, even if that puts your right to compensation on the line.
- Your injuries deserve fair treatment. In situations where you are in a serious bus accident, your losses could be complex and span months or even the rest of your life. Determining the value can be challenging.
For these reasons, working with a Charlotte car accident lawyer is often beneficial to victims, even with moderate injuries. The losses you face could be compounded by struggling to find evidence or denials of valid claims. Take the pressure off of yourself by hiring a lawyer who has the experience you can rely on.
For a free legal consultation with a bus accident lawyer serving Charlotte, call 980-246-2656
Proving Liability in a Bus Accident
To determine who should pay for losses, your attorney will help you prove negligence. Negligence occurs when a person owes another a duty of care and fails in that duty, and that failure directly causes an accident, leading to injuries or other losses. While seemingly straightforward, negligence is often more complex.
- The accident cause. The cause of the bus accident is a good starting point. If a third-party driver caused the bus to crash, that driver is responsible. If the bus driver is impaired, the driver is responsible. All factors that caused your accident must be considered to determine who is responsible.
- Filing a claim against the city. In some situations, the city may own and operate the bus or transit system. In these areas, the city could be liable for the losses if you can demonstrate they knew of a risk and failed to take action.
- Comparative negligence could be a concern. In some situations, the police or insurance company will determine that you were partially to blame for the accident and your injuries. This could reduce the compensation owed to you significantly and falls under 1-139: burden of proof of contributory negligence.
To build a case for our clients, our Charlotte bus accident attorney at Shane Smith Law will gather as much evidence as possible to demonstrate who is to blame.
This might include witness statements, evidence from the scene, medical reports from the bus driver if impairment is a factor, and maintenance logs for the bus. We also work with a team of experts who can help reconstruct the accident to show who is at fault.
Charlotte Bus Accident Lawyer Near Me 980-246-2656
Determining the Value of Your Bus Accident Case
With the guidance of our experienced attorney, you will uncover all of the ways this accident impacts your health and life now and into the future.
You may have the right to pursue compensation for all of those losses as long as you can show evidence of them. Consider some of the ways our legal team works to establish the value of your losses.
- Medical bills: Medical bills document all of your medical losses. These are costs your health insurance may have paid, out-of-pocket costs, medication costs, and other documented losses for medical care and support.
- Lost wages: To prove your lost wages, we use your previous paycheck stubs to determine your average income and how much time you lost due to the accident. Factors like benefits and lost time off could also apply.
- Loss of earning capacity: For those in a bus accident where injuries are complex, full recovery may not happen. To document your loss of earning capacity, we work with your medical providers to understand the extent of your physical losses and the impact they have on your job.
- Pain and suffering: Often a complicated area of value determination, it is critical to factor in pain and suffering, including the loss of ability to do the things you enjoy, the pain you felt during the accident, and the severity of the outcome. Using medical expertise, we can get a good idea of what this accident cost you.
- Emotional trauma: Many people in bus accidents face emotional trauma, and the value of that loss could include both impact on quality of life and costs related to seeking mental health treatment.
Utilizing all of these details, your bus accident lawyer in Charlotte will build a strong case for you. We then require the insurance company to take action and demonstrate your losses.
Most of the time, they settle fairly, but if not, expect us to go to court to fight for you. Read our FAQs today to learn more.
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Explore Your Rights with a Consultation with a Bus Accident Attorney in Charlotte
Set up a free consultation to discuss your case with the legal team at Shane Smith Law and get answers to all of your questions.
By establishing an attorney-client relationship with a Charlotte bus accident lawyer with years of experience and dedication to clients, you can have some peace of mind moving forward. Expect us to be aggressive in protecting your rights to full and fair compensation.
Call or text 980-246-2656 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
