New York City Bus Accident Lawyer

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Many of us use public transit buses or intercity buses without thinking about the possibility that the bus may get into an accident. However, if you are hurt while riding a bus as a passenger, or if your car or vehicle is struck by a bus, you may find yourself with serious, life-altering injuries.

These injuries can leave you with piling medical bills that you cannot afford because your injuries keep you out of work and unable to earn a living. The financial difficulties and physical and emotional distress that you might experience after an accident can leave you feeling anxious and helpless. The pain and suffering that you endure can be disabling throughout your life.

At Finz & Finz, P.C., our New York City bus accident attorneys understand the stress and worry that come with recovering from serious injuries caused by someone else’s negligence. When you are injured through no fault of your own in an accident in New York City or Long Island, you deserve to be compensated for your injuries, damages, and other losses. You need an experienced bus accident law firm that will aggressively pursue the maximum compensation you are entitled to – the compensation that you and your family deserve.

Our New York City law firm has helped clients obtain seven-figure settlements and verdicts after suffering life-altering and fatal injuries. For example, some of our most recent victories include:

• $5 million wrongful death verdict for the widow of a truck driver killed in a bus collision.
• $1.5 million personal injury verdict for a bicyclist who suffered fractures after being struck by a bus.
• $1.2 million settlement for a passenger on a charter bus that crashed into another vehicle.

If you have had your life turned upside-down by a bus accident in New York City, Long Island, or elsewhere in New York, contact the MTA bus accident lawyers of Finz & Finz, P.C., today to schedule a free case evaluation. We can answer all the questions you may have about your bus accident case and help you understand your legal rights and options.

Why Choose Finz & Finz, P.C.?

When you’ve been injured in New York City or Long Island, including Nassau County, you need an experienced bus accident lawyer to fight on your behalf to seek the financial recovery and justice that you need and deserve. In New York, you have many attorneys and law firms to choose from, but not all personal injury lawyers are equal in knowledge, experience, or skill. How do you choose the law firm that will give you the best chance at securing maximum compensation for your injuries and damages?

If you have been involved in an MTA bus accident that was not your fault, the New York City bus accident attorneys of Finz & Finz, P.C., can provide you with the dedicated, knowledgeable, results-focused legal representation you need. For more than 40 years, we have dedicated our practice exclusively to representing the rights and interests of personal injury clients. As a result, we have extensive experience litigating some of the most complex personal injury cases in New York. We have the experience, passion, and resources to win for our clients.

We take pride in our track record of results, having obtained record-setting seven- and eight-figure settlements and verdicts for some of our more seriously injured clients and their families.

At Finz & Finz, P.C., you will be represented by a team of hand-picked accomplished litigators, including four former judges, who have significant resources to aggressively pursue full compensation for your injuries. We also have a compassionate and knowledgeable support staff who work tirelessly to ensure that we provide you with top-level client service. In addition, our firm has strong, unique partnerships with experts who are leaders in their fields, who consult with us on the complex liability (including accident reconstruction), engineering, financial and medical issues that may arise.

At the end of the day, you can be sure that Finz & Finz, P.C., will aggressively pursue the maximum financial compensation that you need and deserve. We will never advise you to settle for anything less than a fair and full financial recovery for your injuries and damages.

Why Are Bus Crash Claims More Complicated

Although it can be tempting to assume that bus crashes have no differences from other motor vehicle accidents, the reality is that these accidents have significantly more complexities than a typical car crash.

Some of the reasons why bus crash claims in New York City are more complicated than other motor vehicle accidents include:

• More serious injuries – When a bus collides with a smaller vehicle, such as a passenger car, the bus imparts violent forces upon the smaller vehicle and upon the occupants in the smaller vehicle, putting them at greater risk for more severe injuries. In addition, passengers of buses can easily suffer severe injuries, as most buses lack basic safety features common to passenger vehicles, such as airbags or seatbelts.
• More people involved in the accident – Although most car accidents involve only one or two occupants in each vehicle involved in the accident, bus accidents can involve many more injured victims, since buses can hold up to 60 or 70 passengers. With so many injured victims, it can quickly exhaust the sources of financial compensation, including insurance coverage, to provide full compensation to each injured person.
• Multiple vehicles involved in the accident – Bus accidents can easily involve multiple vehicles, especially in the dense traffic of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. With so many vehicles involved in an accident, it can take time to sort out how the accident happened and determine who is at fault for causing the accident.
• Multiple potentially legally responsible parties – When a bus is involved in a crash, many parties may bear some liability for compensating injured victims beyond just the bus driver. These parties may include the bus company (such as a public transit agency, a tour company, an intercity bus company, a shuttle company, or a charter company) which may have employer liability for the driver’s negligence or may be directly responsible for negligently hiring, training, or supervising the driver; the company responsible for maintaining the bus (if the accident was caused by improper or a lack of maintenance); or the bus manufacturer (if the accident results from a design or manufacturing defect in the bus).
• Complex insurance structures for responsible corporate parties – When corporate entities are responsible for causing or contributing to an accident, they may have complex insurance policy structures that can make it difficult for injured parties to discover what financial resources are available to provide compensation for their injuries. Bus companies may have multiple layers of insurance coverage that are only triggered upon exhausting other coverage or under certain circumstances.
• More evidence involved – These types of accidents may require examining more evidence than a traditional car accident. For example, state and federal regulations limit how long bus drivers can drive before needing to rest. The driver’s timesheets or service logs can show whether he or she exceeded these limits, which would indicate that he or she may have been fatigued behind the wheel. Many buses are also equipped with dashcams or other video recording equipment, which can demonstrate what happened in the moments before a collision. Bus companies are required to ensure that their vehicles are adequately maintained. Maintenance logs may show that the bus company failed to properly maintain its vehicles.

What Is the Statute of Limitations on Bus Accident Lawsuits in New York

If you have been injured in an MTA accident in New York, you have a limited period to file a lawsuit to pursue a compensation claim. This period is called the statute of limitations. Under New York law, the statute of limitations on bus accident lawsuits is three years from the date of the accident. If you fail to file your lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations in your case, the court will most likely permanently dismiss your lawsuit.

Under certain limited circumstances, the statute of limitations can be extended. For example, a minor injured in an accident has three years from his or her 18th birthday to file a bus accident lawsuit. The court may also decide to equitably extend, or “toll”, the statute of limitations if circumstances prevent an injured party from filing his or her lawsuit. For example, if an injured driver suffered a hit-and-run accident.

In addition to the statute of limitations, if you have a bus accident claim against the state or a municipal government or agency, you must provide the government with notice of your claim within 90 days of the accident by filing your case in the court of claims or the applicable municipal court. Although it may be possible to file a late notice with leave of the court upon a showing of a good reason for the delay in the notice, any late notice can result in your claim against the government or a government agency for an accident being denied.

Compensation for Your New York City Bus Accident Injuries

When you suffer injuries in a bus crash, you may be entitled to compensation for the financial and personal losses that you incur from the accident. Compensation from bus crashes falls into two categories – economic damages and non-economic damages.

Economic damages, which compensate for specific financial losses, include things like:

• Lost earning capacity, if your injuries keep you from returning to your old job or other gainful employment and you suffer a reduction in your income as a result
• Lost wages, if you miss work during your recovery from your injuries
• Medical expenses, which include hospital bills, surgeries, doctor’s office visits, physical and occupational therapy, prescription medication, mobility assistance equipment, durable medical equipment, and even home alterations to accommodate disabilities caused by your injuries

Non-economic damages compensate for subjective, non-pecuniary losses such as:

• Loss of consortium, which compensates your spouse for the loss of your intimate companionship and society
• Lost quality of life, which can arise from disfigurement, disability, or the inability to participate in activities you enjoyed before your accident, or from the difficulty or inability to perform tasks of daily living
• Pain and suffering, which compensates you for the physical and emotional anguish and distress caused by your injuries

In addition to compensation for your injuries, you may also be able to recover compensation for property damage you incur in the accident, such as if your vehicle is damaged or totaled in the accident.

Types of Bus Accidents Handled By Our Law Firm

At Finz & Finz, P.C., our New York City bus accident attorneys handle all different types of accidents, such as:

Types of Injuries Suffered in a Bus Crash

Accidents can lead to many of the same injuries suffered in many other kinds of motor vehicle accidents. Some of these injuries include:

Due to the severity of bus impacts and the lack of safety features for bus accident injuries, unfortunately, tend to be more severe.

Talk to a New York City Bus Accident Lawyer Now

Being injured in an accident is often a life-changing experience that can leave you with devastating, life-long injuries. When your accident was caused by the negligence of the bus driver and the bus companies, you deserve to be compensated for the injuries, damages, and losses you’ve suffered as a result. We’ll be at your side and fight for you every step of the way.

Don’t wait another day to start pursuing the financial recovery that you and your family need to help get your life back to normal following your accident. Contact Finz & Finz, P.C., today to schedule a free, no-obligation initial consultation with our New York City bus accident attorneys on Long Island to discuss the details of your case and learn more about how our firm can help you successfully pursue your bus accident claim. Our New York City personal injury attorney will always be there for you.