Philadelphia Bus Accident Lawyer

Philadelphia residents lead productive, active lives, with many residents and visitors to the city relying on buses for daily transportation. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) runs over 150 city bus routes within Philadelphia. City buses congest the streets daily, together with around 400 school buses and the hundreds of tour buses transporting visitors around one of the nation’s most historic cities. 

Buses are essential, but they also have extended blind spots, make wide turns, and require long stopping times, which can lead to accidents resulting in serious injuries to passengers and motorists in other vehicles. If you or a close family member suffered injuries in a bus accident, call the auto accident lawyers in Philadelphia who are ready to provide the experienced legal representation required for this type of claim.

Why You Should Choose Grungo Law as Your Bus Accident Attorneys In Philadelphia

The Philadelphia bus accident attorneys at Grungo Law have decades of combined experience in assertively advocating for injury victims, with a history of recovering over $150 million for our clients. A bus accident claim quickly becomes complex, especially when dealing with a city agency rather than a private bus company. With our firm’s representation, you can expect the following:

• A free consultation and contingency-based payment, so you pay nothing until after we recover compensation for you
• Experienced investigators, strong negotiators, and an entire support staff behind your claim
• Access to resources such as accident reconstruction specialists and medical experts to help us craft a compelling claim for your full and fair compensation
• A lead attorney who believes in individualizing the best possible strategy for every client by combining cutting-edge technological advances with classic injury victim legal advocacy methods

Our exceptional history of results, including a recent $52.85 million settlement for a truck accident victim, puts a well-respected voice behind your bus accident injury claim in Philadelphia.

What Causes Bus Accidents In Philadelphia?

We typically think of buses as safe, familiar vehicles that lumber through our Philadelphia neighborhoods daily, but bus accidents happen more often than you’d think. Approximately 13,000 bus accidents occur nationwide each year, including those that cause injuries in Pennsylvania. The most common causes of bus accidents include the following:

• Distracted driving
• Speeding to meet unrealistic schedules
• Making too wide turns
• Tailgating
• Unsafe lane changes
• Improper passing
• Improper merging
• Intoxicated driving
• Mechanical failures
• Inadequate maintenance
• Tire blowouts
• Design defects in buses, such as excessively tall designs that cause tipping

Bus accidents sometimes occur from causes unrelated to the bus driver or bus company, but instead result from negligent road maintenance, third-party drivers, or a defective bus part, leaving other entities liable for a bus accident victim’s damages, like medical expenses, lost income, and compensation for pain and suffering.

What Types of Philadelphia Bus Accidents Cause Injuries to Passengers, Other Motorists, and Pedestrians?

Bus accidents cause devastating scenes, often involving multiple injuries to passengers and other involved motorists. Common types of bus accidents in Philadelphia and the surrounding area include the following:

• Rear-end collisions
• T-bone accidents
• Sideswipes
• Roadway departures
• Head-on collisions
• Rollovers
• Bus fires
• Multi-car pileups
• Pedestrian accidents

Buses not only tower over standard passenger cars and outweigh them by thousands of pounds, but they often carry unbelted passengers, resulting in many serious injuries.

Bus Accident Injuries In Philadelphia

While some charter buses include seatbelts, many city buses and most school buses do not, often resulting in serious injuries to passengers in bus accidents. When a bus accident involves a collision with one or more other vehicles, the motorists in smaller vehicles are vulnerable to severe injuries. Common injuries seen in Philadelphia bus accidents include the following:

• Fractures
• Traumatic brain injuries
• External head, facial, and dental injuries
• Soft-tissue injuries like sprains, strains, and tendon/ligament injuries
• Neck injuries
• Back injuries
• Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
• Burns
• Spinal cord injuries
• Internal organ injuries
• Traumatic amputations

Even relatively minor injuries can disrupt an injury victim’s life, with an emergency room bill and several days of lost pay. A more severe or catastrophic injury can cause life-altering adverse consequences such as disability, impairment, or wrongful death.

What Can I Get If I Pursue a Bus Accident Claim In Philadelphia?

Pennsylvania law offers robust protection for injury victims under Chapter 42 § 7102. Comparative negligence law. Under this fault-based injury law, a bus accident victim can hold the liable party financially accountable for the economic and non-economic consequences of the accident, or their “damages” in a Philadelphia bus accident claim. While no two claims have the same results, common damages recovered in Philadelphia bus accident claims include the following:

• Property damage
• Medical expenses and future expected medical expenses for further care
• Past and future income loss
• Diminished future earning capacity due to disability
• Out-of-pocket expenses
• Compensation for pain and suffering
• Compensation for any catastrophic injury damages that apply, such as loss of limb, the loss of one of the senses, disfigurement, scarring, organ loss, PTSD, or loss of enjoyment of life

If a loved one died due to bus accident injuries, a Philadelphia wrongful death lawyer from Grungo Law can help the closest surviving family member recover wrongful death benefits.

Liability In Pennsylvania Bus Accident Claims

Bus accidents are complex legal processes. This is due to the many parties involved in keeping a safe bus on the road and driven by a well-qualified driver. It often takes an experienced investigation by an injury victim’s attorney to uncover the cause of the accident, the negligent party that’s liable for the damages, and the appropriate insurance policy with which to file a claim. Depending on the results of the investigation, the liable party could be:

• The bus driver
• The bus agency or company
• A negligent bus maintenance company
• The manufacturer of a defective part or tire
• The bus manufacturer
• A city road maintenance agency
• A third-party driver

An experienced bus accident lawyer in Philadelphia carefully investigates, documents evidence of liability, calculates the injury victim’s damages, and sends their findings to the appropriate insurance company. Then they negotiate from a position of strength to recover the maximum financial compensation available to the injury victim, or they take the case to court to seek a substantial jury award for damages.

Call the Bus Accident Attorneys In Philadelphia at Grungo Law

Filing claims against large companies can be overwhelming. When the bus was a city bus or county school bus, a claim against a government agency is particularly complex, often with additional requirements and timelines. Instead of adding a challenging legal endeavor to your plate while you’re also trying to focus on physical and emotional healing, contact us at Grungo Law for experienced, assertive legal representation through prompt action on your behalf.