Getting damages paid after a bus accident may mean going to court – but most cases ultimately settle before trial. It is vital, however, that you work with a lawyer and only settle your case if the settlement offer is good enough.
A “good” settlement for a bus accident covers all of your costs and damages. This means accounting for full medical care costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other costs. Our lawyers can negotiate a fair settlement and take the case to trial if the defense refuses to settle for a fair value.
For help with your case, call our Maryland bus accident lawyers at Rice Law today at (410) 694-7291.
What Damages Should Be Included in a Bus Accident Settlement?
Bus accidents are often serious, and they may involve injuries to multiple people. Making sure that your bus accident settlement is “good” means making sure that it includes damages in every area you need them:
Medical Bills
Your treatment after an accident is probably the biggest cost in your case. Especially if your injuries were serious, this could be thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Lost Wages
Another large area of damages may be lost wages. If you cannot work while healing or even face ongoing lost earnings in the future because the crash disabled you, your lost earnings will be high.
You can claim both past and future lost earnings in your settlement.
Vehicle Damage
If you were hit while driving your car, you need vehicle repairs, or perhaps you even need your vehicle replaced. These costs can be claimed, even though they deal with your property damage instead of your physical injuries.
Other Expenses
Accidents also cause other costs and expenses. For example, if you need someone to watch your kids while you are in the hospital, that is a new expense brought on by the crash. The same is true if you need to hire someone to mow your lawn while you are recovering.
Talk to a lawyer about what incidental expenses you can claim under the umbrella of “economic damages.”
Pain and Suffering
Under “non-economic damages,” you can claim money for your physical pain, mental and emotional suffering, and other harms you face. We can determine the best way to calculate these in your case.
Other Non-Economic Damages
You may also be entitled to other damages, such as loss of consortium for your spouse. This covers things like lost companionship brought on by your injuries.
How Do You Tell if a Settlement is Enough?
It may be difficult to tell if your settlement is enough, so always work with our Cheverly, MD bus accident lawyers in assessing your case.
Calculate Damages with Your Lawyer
First, you should never trust the insurance company or defendant to calculate damages. Let your attorney calculate damages on their own, so you have a number to compare settlement offers against.
Assess Offers
Then check with your lawyer on settlement offers. The defense should break down the damages into what amounts are for what damages, so this comparison becomes easier. If we see damages are missing, we can negotiate for additional compensation.
Check Other Consideration
A settlement is more than just compensation for damages. Bus companies might not want you to speak badly about them in the press or discuss the settlement with others. You deserve additional compensation for each term like these.
How Do Injury Settlements Work with Bus Companies?
Settling with a bus company after a bus accident has a few major complications:
Multiple Defendants
If the bus accident involved multiple vehicles, there may be multiple drivers included as defendants in the case. Especially if you were a bus passenger, your case might be against the bus driver and multiple other drivers.
Each one has to pay their share of the total damages.
Driver vs. Bus Company
You might initially bring your case against the bus driver and the bus company. Ultimately, the company will typically be responsible for what their driver did within the course of their job duties, meaning the case is really against the bus company and not their driver.
The bus company might have also been at fault in its own right, e.g., because of negligent maintenance and inspection of its vehicle.
Insurance Payouts Are Divided Among Many Victims
Getting full damages may be complex in a bus accident because there are potentially multiple victims. The insurance policies involved typically have a “per-accident” policy limit, meaning the insurance company will not pay more than this when each settlement is added up.
Example
Let’s say, for example, that the policy is $1 million and there are 10 victims. This would mean each might see only $100,000, even if their specific damages were much higher.
How to Deal with This
Bus companies often have high-dollar policies to prevent this kind of issue, but you may want to negotiate aggressively to settle quickly while there is still money left in the policy. You may also need to convince the bus company to pay out of pocket to cover costs beyond the policy limit, or else win a jury award in court to enforce full payment.
Can You Settle More than Once?
You can only settle your case against a defendant once. This means that if you are suing just the bus company, you will only be able to settle with them once. You cannot reopen a settlement or take it back to trial if it is not enough.
If you are suing multiple drivers, you might get a settlement from one, then still pursue damages against the other if they refuse to settle.
How Many Settlement Offers Can You Reject Before You Have to Accept One?
There is no limit. You can always say no to a settlement offer if it isn’t good enough.
If the insurance company refuses to negotiate and will not bring up their offer, we can take the case to trial and let the jury decide damages.
Call Our Maryland Bus Accident Lawyers Today
Call Rice Law’s Randallstown, MD bus accident attorneys at (410) 694-7291 for a free case evaluation.