Every time you board a bus, you are putting your trust in the driver to get you safely to your destination. This trust is founded in the fact that bus drivers, like other commercial drivers, are held to rigorous standards that go beyond the requirements of getting a passenger vehicle driver’s license, in addition to a range of regulations and restrictions that they must adhere to. However, an Orlando truck accident lawyer knows that there are no amount of regulations and rules that can ever guarantee that a bus driver will not be in an accident, whether it is their fault or the fault of the other driver.
Luckily, bus drivers are covered by insurance policies that often exceed limits of $1 million for liability. Even with this built-in protection, though, you will soon realize that getting the money that you are actually entitled to is more complicated than simply filing a claim and waiting for a check. If you want to get the money that you are rightfully entitled to, then you will need to put up a fight with the insurance company that we are here to help with.
Hire a Bus Accident Attorney Today
An Orlando personal injury lawyer at Fasig | Brooks is here to help you get the money that you actually deserve, and not just the money that the insurance company would like to pay. When a victim is suffering from significant injuries at the same time that they are watching their income take a major hit and their medical bills increase, it is understandable why people are often quick to accept the first offer from the insurance company. However, this is not advisable, since the insurance representative handling your claim is taking every possible step to protect their own financial interests, not yours.
We offer a free initial consultation to anyone who has been hurt in a bus accident in Orlando, and the sooner you request yours, the sooner we will be able to understand your needs and explain how we can help. Read more below to get a general sense of how we will work to calculate the compensation that you deserve, as well as some additional general information about the claims process following a bus accident in Orlando.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
Filing an Insurance Claim After a Bus Accident
As with any car accident, you will need to file an insurance claim in order to get compensated for your injuries from the insurance company representing the responsible party. If you are feeling a claim with the bus insurance, then you will be seeking compensation from a commercial policy, which has much higher limits but is much more complicated as well.
From the moment that you first contact the insurance company to file a claim, all of their focus will go into limiting the amount that you ultimately receive as payment for your damages. In order to initiate the process with the legal protection that you deserve, we will be able to file your claim on your behalf. Many people think that they should file a claim before doing anything else, but the reality is that the sooner you have an attorney representing your case, the stronger your case will be.
Once your claim is initiated, you will work with a claims adjuster who will investigate your case in order to understand all of the unique aspects of your situation before returning to you with a settlement offer. The unfortunate reality is that this offer is not in your best interest, but is instead the amount that the adjuster identified as the least possible amount that they could spend while still resolving their legal obligations. In exchange for this settlement, you will be required to waive your ability to take any additional legal actions regarding this claim, no matter what types of issues may arise at a later date.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
Calculating Damages Following a Bus Accident in Orlando
No two accident is alike, and the financial impact that a victim suffers is unique to their situation for a variety of reasons. As such, it can take a lot of work in order to determine what makes a fair settlement amount for a victim. The following are just a few overview examples of how we will bring clarity to your own situation.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the basis of a personal injury claim and are also the simplest to calculate without extensive legal knowledge. However, even these damages can include things that a victim may not realize. Economic damages include all of your medical-related costs and expenses, such as hospital bills, ambulance rides, administrative fees, surgery costs, and more. In addition to your medical bills, you are entitled to the impacts on your earnings, both short-term and long-term. This includes any paid time off (PTO) that you may have needed to cash in or sick days that you used in order to cover missed time at work while you prioritized your recovery.
Beyond these obvious impacts and costs that you suffer, we will also seek compensation for any services that you needed to hire such as laundry, shopping, driving, and anything else that you would have normally done on your own were you not suffering from your injuries.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are more difficult to calculate than economic damages, simply for the fact that they attempt to apply a financial value to issues that have no dollar amount associated with them. They include things like the actual pain and suffering that a victim must endure after an injury, the trauma that someone experienced during an accident, and impacts on a victim’s quality of life after the accident.
As you can imagine, insurance companies are much more aggressive when combatting non-economic damages since they are so abstract. When you are a client of Fasig | Brooks, though, you can be confident that your legal representative will be fighting aggressively to ensure that you get the money that you deserve and not the money that the insurance company would like to spend on your claim.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
Frequently Asked Questions About Bus Accidents in Orlando
Do I need a lawyer to help me file a claim after a bus accident?
There is nothing in the American justice legal system that says you need an attorney to file a personal injury claim. However, the process is complicated and will take a fairly significant emotional toll on you if you are attempting it alone. This is especially true as you are trying to recover from serious injuries. In fact, it has been shown that emotional stress has a significant impact on physical recovery, so by letting an attorney handle this process you are encouraging a better recovery.
How much is my bus accident case worth?
Answering this question is fairly complicated, but even arriving at a general figure requires that we discuss the specifics of your life including your income as well as your medical bills and the measurable financial impacts of your accident. The sooner that we are able to work together, the sooner we will be able to answer this question comprehensively.
Will I need to go to trial to get a fair award after my bus accident?
Many people mistakenly believe that if they do not accept the initial offer that the insurance company makes, that the next step is to prepare for trial. However, that is far from the truth. Florida has a four-year statute of limitations on personal injury cases, meaning that we have plenty of time to negotiate in an attempt to avoid trial.
Start Your Free Case Evaluation
