Were you injured on public transportation? Read these 4 bus accident recommendations for you, then give our Orlando attorneys a call today.
1) Choosing the Best Attorney For You
It’s important to choose an attorney who is experienced in these types of cases. That’s the number one factor when choosing an attorney for your bus accident case.
Now, there’s buses that are privately owned, and there’s buses that are owned by the municipality, city or county. These types of cases can be completely different. Sometimes people are injured because they’re passengers on a bus that’s involved in an accident; sometimes you’re a vehicle driver who was hit by a bus. Sometimes a bus invades your lane and causes you to impact another vehicle or vice versa – another vehicle is forced into you because of a bus. In a recent case, we had a cyclist who was hit by a bus while waiting at the bus stop.
These types of cases tend to come with very significant injuries, and it’s very important that you hire an attorney who can extract the most from these types of cases. There’s a lot of things you need to do right away. There are things that an experienced attorney will know to do right away in your bus case, and there’s several different insurance policies that might be in play that most attorneys may not even consider.
2) Child Injured on a School Bus
It is very likely that you and your family have a claim for injuries sustained by your child in a school bus accident here in Central Florida. Accidents involving buses often involve the driver who was negligent in one way or another. Either they weren’t paying attention; they were distracted or perhaps tired. Oftentimes there’s many things going on in a school bus that can divert the driver’s attention.
It’s critically important that you contact an attorney right away to get that investigative process done quickly as possible. There are facts on the ground that could be lost if an attorney is not involved who doesn’t know what questions are needed to be asked.
3) Taking the Initial Offer From the Insurance Company
Here in Central Florida, we get asked by friends and family alike if they should just go ahead and accept an offer, particularly an initial offer, made by an insurance company. In bus accident cases, the value of these cases tends to be a lot higher than your average automobile accident case – at least in Florida – and you should absolutely never accept the first offer made to you by an insurance company. They will attempt to settle your case for a dime on the dollar and brush your case to the side as quickly as possible without having to incur the cost of fighting the case or even litigating the case.
It is critically important that even if you do get an offer, you contact an attorney to represent your interests. That initial offer is always going to be far below what your case is truly worth, and that is something that you can count on.
4) Insurance Investigation
It is critically important that you do not speak with any insurance company that reaches out to you on behalf of that bus company. Likewise, if an attorney representing the bus company reaches out to you, you have no obligation to speak to them. It is very important that you reach out to an attorney to make sure that they are representing you during any possible negotiations.
From the very beginning, insurance companies and attorneys will try to trap a plaintiff into saying something that might damage their case or lessen the value of your case. You may inadvertently say something that could jeopardize any potential future recovery you may get. If an insurance company reaches out to you regarding your bus accident and you’re not represented by an attorney, do not speak with them. Likewise, if an attorney reaches out to you and you’re not represented by an attorney, do not speak with them; do not feel obligated to.
Have you suffered a serious injury in a bus accident in Florida and have questions about these 4 bus accident recommendations for you? Contact our experienced Orlando bus accident lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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