New York School Bus Accident Attorneys

If you or your child has been injured in a school bus accident, it’s important to work with an attorney who understands the ins and outs of litigating these types of cases.

School bus accidents are typically more nuanced than other motor vehicle crashes, as the investigative work tends to be more complex, legal processes vary depending on bus ownership, and there are stricter legal standards for cases involving injured children and a common carrier. The attorneys at Block O’Toole & Murphy are well known within the New York legal community for landmark personal injury results. Our past cases include $2.925 million and $2.25 million resolutions for clients hurt in school bus collisions.

Need to Know:

• School bus accident cases can vary greatly depending on the bus’s owner, which can be a municipality or a private company. Each scenario may require a different tactical approach, as attorneys must follow more stringent guidelines when suing a municipality.
• Early investigation is critical for determining who’s at fault. Liability will depend on a variety of factors, including the driver’s employment history and training records, applicable New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, and other accident data.
• To protect a child’s rights and privacy, the courts have set stricter standards for cases involving minors.

In this Article: 

• Different Legal Processes Based on Bus Ownership
• Securing Evidence in School Bus Accidents
• Nuances of Legal Responsibility in School Bus Accidents
• Case Study: $2,925,000 Settlement for Driver Struck by School Bus
• When School Bus Cases Go to Trial
• The Intricacies of Representing Children
• Case Study: $950,000 Settlement for Student with Orthopedic Disabilities

Different Legal Processes Based on Bus Ownership

School buses are typically owned by one of two entities: a municipality or a private company. Attorneys must abide by stricter rules when suing public entities, like a municipality, making bus ownership one of the defining elements of a school bus accident case. 

Buses owned by a municipality – in this case, either New York City or another New York State school district – are operated by government employees. Thus, any accident involving a municipal-owned school bus will likely name the city or township as a defendant, in addition to the bus driver.

Cases against municipalities have extremely tight deadlines. In New York State, you only have 90 days from the date of incident to file a document known as a Notice of Claim, which notifies the city of your accident and intention to pursue legal action. Additionally, you only have one year and 90 days from the date of accident to file the lawsuit itself.

There are less stringent deadline requirements when filing a claim against a private company. You will not need to submit a Notice of Claim, and you are given three years from the date of incident to file your lawsuit. This time limit is known as the statute of limitations. The three-year time limit is applicable only to non-municipal cases. The statute of limitations for municipal cases requires that a lawsuit be filed within one year and 90 days from the date of occurrence.

Additionally, different regulatory standards may apply based on bus ownership. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets rules for privately-owned school buses, and the New York Department of Transportation has established similar standards for bus and passenger carrier safety, which apply to both private and publicly owned school buses.

Securing Evidence in School Bus Accident Cases

Along with the standard types of evidence such as surveillance footage or photographs, black box data, and witness testimony, our attorneys also typically seek the following additional types of evidence in school bus accident cases.

Driver and Vehicle History

In school bus accident investigations, a good attorney will also look into the bus driver’s history. This may involve issuing a subpoena for old company records or asking about a driver’s work history during depositions. This information can give insight into the bus driver’s on-the-job behavior or reveal past incidents which should have precluded the driver from being hired.

These insights also provide details of any inspections, training, and background checks done by the owner of the school bus. If the bus owner acted negligently in some way – like hiring a driver with a history of accidents or failing to conduct routine vehicle inspections – your attorney can use this information to strengthen your case.

For example, partners Daniel O’Toole and Frederick Aranki once handled a wrongful death case in which a mother was struck and killed by a privately-owned garbage truck after the driver suffered a seizure behind the wheel. During the investigation, our attorneys discovered that the truck driver had been fired from a previous position after suffering a seizure while driving.

His current employer had not conducted a thorough background check. They had not obtained past employment records, as was required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). This discovery helped our lawyers hold the employer accountable for the tragedy.

The same principles would apply in a school bus accident – if your attorney revealed that the bus driver’s employer failed to conduct the appropriate background checks, you would be able to file similar claims.

FOIA and FOIL Requests

When the defendant in a school bus accident case is a municipality, you can use FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) or FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) requests to find additional information about the vehicle, driver, and school district. These requests allow attorneys to access federal, state, and local government records. FOIA is used for federal requests, while FOIL is used for records held by New York state and local organizations.

Attorneys will want to file a FOIL or FOIA request as soon as possible when they take a new case – government entities can take a while to respond to your requests.

EMS Evaluations

If an ambulance is called to the accident scene, the EMS report can be another useful source of information, especially when children are involved. First responders are trained to observe and articulate an injured child’s demeanor after an accident – something children may struggle to do themselves after a traumatic crash.

The pre-hospital care report that an EMS responder fills out will be the most accurate description of a child’s injuries immediately following the accident and provides critical evidence for establishing damages in a case.

Nuances of Legal Responsibility in Bus Accident Lawsuits

An experienced lawyer will make sure your claim is filed against every potential defendant in your case, giving you the best chance at recovering full and fair compensation for your injuries. Below are the different types of liability that may apply to school bus accident lawsuits.

Vicarious Liability

Vicarious liability establishes that employers can be held responsible for the negligent actions of their employees. This is why you can pursue legal action against the private owner of a school bus, even if the owner was not directly involved in your accident – the entity that owns the bus and employs the driver is vicariously responsible for the driver’s negligence.

In one case example, a pedestrian was struck by a school bus while crossing the street. The walk sign was in our client’s favor, but the bus driver failed to notice her and turned directly into our client’s path. As a result, our client suffered fractures in her femur and ribs, along with a herniated disc in her spine. Through the doctrine of vicarious liability, the bus driver’s employer – a private company – was named as an additional defendant in the lawsuit.

Joint and Several Liability

Joint and several liability establishes that, in motor vehicle accidents with more than one defendant, plaintiffs can hold each party responsible as much as if it were the only party at fault. The combined payout from all defendants will not, however, exceed the total amount of damages awarded to the plaintiff.

To explain: joint and several liability are two different principles. Joint liability refers to your ability to hold each party responsible, rather than just one. If, for example, you are a passenger in a school bus collision, joint liability means you can file claims against both the driver of your bus and the driver of another vehicle that may have been involved in the accident.

Several liability means you can hold both your bus driver and the other driver responsible for 100% of the damages awarded to you as long as each are found to be at least 1% responsible for the accident.  If your case goes to trial and the jury finds both defendants responsible for the accident with percentages totaling 100%, and that same jury awards you a total award of $1,000,000 in damages, both parties share responsibility for paying you that amount.  And you can seek payment of 100% of your damages from one party regardless of their own degree of fault as long as they were at least partially at-fault for the accident. So, if one party can only cover $200,000 of the damages, the other party must step in to pay the other $800,000, even if that party contributed less to the cause of the accident.

Case Study: $2,950,000 Settlement for a Driver in a Side-Impact Collision with a School Bus

Understanding the unique aspects of bus accident cases enables our attorneys to develop strong arguments that help you win your case.

For example, in one case, our client had been driving with two coworkers when he was suddenly struck by a school bus on the passenger side of his car. The force of the impact caused our client to lose consciousness, and he woke up in an ambulance on the way to a hospital.

Scans revealed that our client had multiple disc herniations in his cervical and lumbar spine, one of which required surgery (and later, an additional revision surgery) to treat. Even after surgery, he could not walk for long without extreme pain, and he was ultimately unable to return to his job as a factory worker.

During their investigation, partners Daniel O’Toole and Frederick Aranki found that the school bus driver struck our client after running through a stop sign. When confronted with this, the school bus driver claimed that the stop sign was obstructed by tree branches.

Our attorneys weren’t convinced – if the bus driver was following the same route he drove every day, how could he not have known about the upcoming stop sign? There were even signs along the road that warned drivers of the upcoming stop sign, meaning the bus driver had either never seen any of the signs or had intentionally ignored them.

This highlights an interesting dimension to school bus cases – because most school bus drivers follow the same route every day when transporting students, there’s little leeway for them to claim they were unfamiliar with the particular road. In fact, they should probably know those roads better than the average driver. This reasoning ultimately led to a $2,925,000 settlement for our client prior to trial.

When School Bus Accident Cases Go to Trial

Often, the presence of children in a school bus accident changes the way a jury will consider the case. Our attorneys will especially consider the below factors when preparing for trial.

Jury Biases

Attorneys need to be aware of unconscious biases in jurors. It can affect who they choose during jury selection and how they go about crafting their arguments in court.

For example, we have noticed that school bus drivers may be held, consciously or not, to a different standard than the average defendant. Acknowledging that a school bus driver could act negligently may feel unlikely, or even scary, to a juror who trusts their child’s bus driver implicitly.

On the other hand, some jurors may apply the law more harshly to a school bus driver, believing that he or she has an even greater responsibility to drive safely when transporting children.

Reasonableness as It Pertains to Children

Certain perceptions regarding children may also be reflected in what is sometimes referred to as the jury’s “prism of reasonableness.” Though not an official legal term, it’s used to describe the lens through which a juror sees a case. For many people, reasonable behavior can change dramatically depending on the facts of the case — including whether we expect the same standard of behavior from adults and children.

For example, imagine a school bus full of loud, rowdy children. On the way to school, the bus stops short and is rear-ended by another vehicle, causing some of the children, who had been hopping between seats, to sustain injuries.

In a bus accident case involving adults who were injured while jumping between seats, the defense attorney may claim that the plaintiffs were responsible for their injuries, arguing that they had decided to act recklessly on the bus.

This same argument, however, would likely be less effective in a school bus case involving minors. Children are held to a different standard than adults, and a jury may be less likely to blame a child for his or her injuries.

The Intricacies of Representing Children

Not all firms are equipped to handle the challenges that come with representing minors. If your child was injured in a school bus accident, you’ll want an attorney who fully understands the additional legal processes that apply when minors get involved with the courts.

Outlined below are just some of the ways that children can change the nature of a personal injury case.

In Loco Parentis  

In loco parentis refers to the responsibility of children’s supervisors to act as a reasonable parent would when the actual parents are not present – the phrase literally means “in the place of a parent.” This doctrine applies to teachers, aides, faculty, and even school bus drivers. As the only adults present on most school buses, bus drivers have an obligation to monitor and guide the students appropriately, an expectation that would not apply to, say, an MTA bus driver.

For school bus drivers, “supervision” could mean disciplining unruly behavior, asking everyone to stay seated and wear a seatbelt, or stopping the bus to tend to a sick child. Failure to do so can lead to a negligent supervision charge if the bus driver is sued for an accident.

Take the example of unruly students jumping between seats on a moving bus. Assuming there are no other guardians present, it is the bus driver’s job to tell the students to stay seated. If the bus driver ignores them and keeps driving, allowing the children to continue this behavior without reprimand, the driver may be charged with negligent supervision if any injuries occur.

Deposition and Testimony

A child’s testimony can be crucial for a school bus accident case, especially if children on the bus are the only witnesses at the scene able to confirm or refute a driver’s claims. Young children, however, often lack the precise vocabulary to express their pain or accurately recount the details of an accident. They may also be easily swayed by suggestions from peers and other adults.

A good attorney will, with your guidance, help your child clearly communicate his or her story during deposition or trial.

That being said, not all children will be allowed to testify in court. For their testimony to be admissible, children under 9 years old must demonstrate they understand what it means to tell the truth. This is typically done through a hearing, in which a judge asks a series of questions to see if your child understands the consequences of lying.

As a parent, you will be present for the entire hearing, and your attorney will prepare both you and your child beforehand. If your child demonstrates to a judge that he or she understands the nature of an oath and can be trusted to tell the truth, your child may then be asked to testify at a deposition or trial.

“Infants Compromise” Order

Unlike personal injury settlements for adults, settlements for minors must end with an Infant’s Compromise order. Essentially, this means that your child’s claim will not be finalized unless the court approves. This extra step ensures that your child was not taken advantage of by anyone during court proceedings and verifies that the agreed-upon compensation is fair.

Once you, your attorney, and the defense have agreed on a settlement amount, your attorney will present a judge with evidence that the settlement is appropriate for the child. You and your child will also attend this hearing, and the judge may ask you additional questions about how your case was handled. Then, the judge will either approve the settlement and finalize the case, or deny it, forcing you to return to negotiations with the defense.

Our attorneys rarely encounter issues at these hearings. As long as your attorney has been an effective, honest advocate for your child, the hearing should proceed smoothly.

Case Study: $950,000 Settlement for Student with Orthopedic Disabilities

When our attorneys represent a child, they are acutely aware that the outcome of the case can determine the quality of medical care that child receives far into the future. As such, our attorneys will work diligently to emphasize the devastating impact of serious injuries.

Partners Stephen Murphy and David Scher once represented a 14-year-old client who had been born with a rare “brittle bones” disease that made her incredibly susceptible to fractures. She’d already suffered from several serious fractures in her left leg, leaving her with pronounced instability that forced her to walk with a mobility aid. Her prior injuries also made stairs difficult to navigate, so even though she took a bus to and from school every day, she never exited through the front door. Instead, two matrons on the bus would help her down using a hydraulic lift at the back of the bus.

On the day of the accident, our client followed her usual routine. She made her way to the back of the bus, accompanied by one of the matrons, as the bus driver raised the lift. When the matron told our client to exit, she stepped backward off the bus onto the platform as she had been taught (it was safer to exit backward with her walker).

Tragically, the lift was not flush with the floor of the bus, causing our client to fall backward out of the bus. She was rushed to the hospital in excruciating pain, and learned that she’d broken two ribs, both arms, and most upsettingly, her good leg.

Despite conflicting accounts from the defendants, our attorneys were able to show that the matrons and bus driver were negligent. Our client’s cousin, who witnessed the accident, testified that the lift had not been in the proper position, but that our client had been directed to step onto it anyway. Additionally, the second matron, who was meant to be standing outside the bus with the driver, hadn’t exited the bus at all, failing in his duty to protect our client.

Our attorneys also pointed to the devastating effects of our client’s injuries. Prior to the accident, our client’s right leg had been her “good” leg, the one she relied on to support her weight. After the accident, she found both legs equally unreliable, and she struggled with activities she’d previously managed on her own. Worse yet, her leg was now even more prone to future fractures, as her bones got weaker with each successive injury.

After a lengthy mediation process, our attorneys were able to secure a $950,000 settlement. The case highlights the responsibility bus drivers and attendants have to keep students safe at all times.

Contact a School Bus Accident Attorney Today 

If you or your child was injured in a school bus accident, you’ll want to speak to an experienced, trusted attorney as soon as you are able. At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we have a proven track record of litigating school bus accident cases, including the following:

• $2,250,000 settlement for a pedestrian struck by a school bus while crossing the street.
• $1,750,000 settlement for a driver whose vehicle was rear-ended by a school bus at a red light.
• $1,490,000 settlement for a driver who collided with a school bus at an intersection.
• $1,350,000 settlement for a pedestrian hit by a school bus while crossing the street with a traffic signal in her favor.  

Our attorneys will help guide you through the legal process. Contact Block O’Toole & Murphy by calling 212-736-5300 or filling out our Contact Form for a free legal consultation.