Recovering from any type of vehicle accident can be frustratingly complicated. Between getting medical care for serious injuries and navigating the insurance process, you might despair at all the bureaucracy.
Bus accidents are usually even more complicated. Hiring the right Missouri bus accident lawyer can help you cut through red tape to get the compensation you need to speed up your recovery.
As much as a bus accident may seem no different than a car accident, it represents unique challenges. Injuries are often more serious, and it isn’t always clear who you should file an insurance claim or lawsuit against. Our Missouri bus accident attorneys will remove those roadblocks while guiding you through the system.
After suffering a serious injury in a bus accident in Missouri, you deserve to receive as much compensation as the law allows. Call 314.207.9996 now to speak with the legal team at Beck & Beck Missouri Car Accident Lawyers to learn more about your legal options.
How Our Missouri Bus Accident Lawyers Will Help With Your Claim
At Beck & Beck Missouri Car Accident Lawyers, we take charge of your case from the moment you enlist our services. Our Missouri bus accident lawyers will:
- Answer all questions
- Give you top-quality legal advice
- Investigate the accident to determine fault
- Gather and preserve all evidence
- Deal with every bill for services or purchases related to your injuries
- Handle all communications with the insurance companies
- Negotiate a fair settlement when possible
- File a lawsuit and prepare legal documents
- Respond to any motions from the opposition
- Represent your best interests in court
There is no aspect of your case that our legal team won’t assist with. This takes the stress off your shoulders and allows you to focus exclusively on recovering from your injuries.
Does this approach get results? Our past clients certainly believe so. In over 35 years of practicing law, we have obtained $105+ million for our clients.
How much is your case worth? Our Missouri bus accident attorneys will calculate that value during your free case evaluation.
Bus Accident Statistics in Missouri
Thankfully, bus accidents are relatively uncommon in Missouri. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there are roughly 400 bus accidents in Missouri each year. That is a fraction of the number of car accidents that occur every year.
However, one other statistic stands out. The number of injuries or fatalities resulting from bus accidents is quite high. In 2024, there were 394 accidents and 380 injuries. The year before that, there were 53 more injuries than bus accidents.
School Bus Accident Statistics
School buses, thankfully, represent only a fraction of all bus accidents. According to the National Safety Council, nationally, 104 people died and 12,500 were injured in these types of accidents in 2022.
One of the more frightening statistics is that close to 20% of the fatalities were in school bus accidents with pedestrians. This isn’t too surprising, since school buses, unlike most buses, regularly travel in residential areas.
Reasons Bus Accidents Happen in Missouri
To drive a vehicle in Missouri, you need to prove a strong knowledge of Missouri traffic laws and the ability to apply that knowledge when driving on public roads. The test to become a licensed driver can be quite difficult for many people seeking a license.
Bus drivers face even more rigorous training and testing. They are required to show that they can safely pilot a vehicle much larger and harder to control than the average car. Despite this extensive training and testing, bus drivers are often responsible for bus accidents.
Some of the most common causes of bus accidents are:
- Other drivers entering the blind spots of a bus
- Failure of the bus company to properly repair or maintain the bus
- Fatigued bus drivers
- Drivers distracted by electronic devices
- Bus drivers failing to warn other drivers that they are making a left turn
- Drivers who fail to properly slow down for weather conditions
Almost all of these causes have something in common. Either the bus driver or the company was negligent, creating unsafe road conditions for other drivers.
Establishing Liability for a Missouri Bus Accident
To establish liability, a bus accident attorney from our law firm will investigate the circumstances of the collision. Typically, bus crashes occur when at least one driver negligently ignores driving safety standards.
Before you can get compensation, though, our legal team needs to prove that this is what happened. This means interviewing witnesses and recovering evidence to reconstruct the accident.
We need to be able to show that the driver carelessly or recklessly ignored safety regulations, directly resulting in you suffering injuries in an accident.
Determining what happened is only part of establishing liability, though. We also need to determine who is liable. Just because the driver violated traffic safety rules doesn’t necessarily mean the driver is liable for the injuries you suffered.
Buses are typically owned by a corporation or government entity, making the bus driver an employee. In most situations, when an employee negligently causes an injury, the employer is liable for the actions of the employee. Typically, an employee will only be liable if they were off-duty or recklessly violating the terms of their employment contract.
An employer would also be liable if their policies directly caused the accident. For example, if an employer didn’t properly maintain a vehicle or required a driver to work unsafe hours, the employer would be both responsible and liable for the accident.
In some rare cases, other parties may also be liable. If the bus had a manufacturing defect or the mechanic who last repaired it made a mistake, mechanical problems may have caused an accident that the driver couldn’t prevent. Our bus accident lawyers look for these types of causes when determining liability.
Claims Involving Public-Owned Buses vs. Privately Owned Buses in Missouri
Filing a lawsuit or an insurance claim against a privately owned bus company is relatively easy. The company is effectively treated like an individual. You only need to prove negligence to get compensation from a lawsuit or insurance claim.
Publicly owned buses present more complications. Missouri has some of the strictest sovereign immunity laws of any state in the country. According to RSM o Section 537.600, local and state governments are immune to lawsuits except in specific circumstances.
Luckily, one of those circumstances is when an employee of the state is driving a motor vehicle and causes an accident through negligence or omission. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that filing a lawsuit is simple.
Claims against the state involve more bureaucracy than claims against private parties. Additionally, any damages are subject to caps on total liability.
When Should I File My Missouri Bus Accident Claim?
There is a deadline for filing a Missouri bus accident lawsuit. Thankfully, it is a rather generous deadline. You have five years from the date of the accident to file a claim. However, the deadline to act changes significantly when the government is a defendant in your claim.
According to Missouri Revised Statutes §81.060, you must inform the government entity within 90 days of the accident that you intend to file a lawsuit. You still have the full five years to file if you give this notice in time. But if you don’t, you are prohibited from filing a lawsuit.
No matter how long you have, as a rule of thumb, the best time to file a Missouri bus accident claim is as soon as you have enough evidence to prove your claim.
Acting quickly will typically get better results than delaying. This means you should contact Beck & Beck Missouri Car Accident Lawyers as soon as possible after getting hurt in a bus accident.
Consult With Our Top-Rated Bus Accident Injury Attorneys Today
At Beck & Beck Missouri Car Accident Lawyers, we are committed to helping victims of bus accidents get the compensation they need to fully recover from their injuries without facing financial distress. Our legal team will be with you every step of the way after an injury.
Don’t wait to act if you have suffered a serious injury in a bus accident. Complicated rules and tricky liability issues can hinder your claim if you do. Contact our law firm immediately to learn how we can help you avoid these problems.
Some of the locations we’ve helped bus accident victims include St. Louis, Florissant, Independence, O’Fallon, Kansas City, Jefferson City, Doniphan, Cape Girardeau, and more.
