Buses might seem to dominate the road due to their large size, and when a bus is involved in a wreck, it can pose more risk of injury to everyone involved. When you have sustained an injury from a bus accident, it is crucial to consult a skilled personal injury attorney to understand your available compensation options.
A Mankato bus accident lawyer from Maschka, Riedy, Ries & Frentz Law Firm can fight on your behalf and help you make a legal claim for your injuries. Working with our local attorneys can ensure you get the assistance you need.
Various causes can lead to a bus accident, depending on the driver, the bus company, and road conditions. A driver’s inattention or impairment—such as from fatigue, drugs, or alcohol—can lead to a crash, as can a lack of maintenance on a bus itself. Hazardous conditions, like rain, snow, and obstacles on the road, can cause a bus to slide, flip over, or collide with another vehicle.
Any accident can result in injuries, but injuries caused by bus wrecks can sometimes be more severe, requiring long-term medical care, rehabilitation, and a decreased quality of life. Working with a Mankato attorney to pursue compensation could help make up for these effects on a person’s livelihood due to the harm they sustained in a bus collision.
Making a personal injury claim usually requires proof of negligence, showing the person or entity being sued behaved unreasonably. Negligence claims require four elements: a duty of care, a breach of that duty, causation, and damages.
A negligence claim for a bus accident requires proof that the bus driver or company owed a duty to a person, such as a duty to drive safely or adequately maintain the vehicle, and that the duty was breached. An injured person will also need to show the breach was the direct cause of the accident and their injuries.
A person might also need to be aware of some more procedural rules that could affect their claim. For example, they only have six years to bring a negligence claim under Minnesota Statutes § 541.05(5). If a person does not file their lawsuit within this six-year statute of limitations, they could lose their legal right to compensation.
Under Minn. Stat. § 604.01, fault can be assigned to anyone involved in an accident. A person’s compensation award can be reduced by the percentage of their own fault, and if they are more than 50 percent responsible for the accident, they could lose their entire recovery. Working through these legal rules and proving a claim is where a bus accident attorney could make a significant difference. In addition to providing legal services, our Mankato attorneys can provide trustworthy support for a person throughout the bus wreck claims process.
A bus accident can seriously impact your life. To ensure you do not lose your right to bring a claim, you should contact an experienced attorney quickly after an accident.
With a Mankato bus accident lawyer on your side, you can rest assured that you have someone in your corner willing to fight for your interests. Call Maschka, Riedy, Ries & Frentz Law Firm for a consultation on your case as soon as possible.
