NYC Bus Accident Lawyer: Get Maximum Compensation for Your Injuries

Bus accidents can cause some of the most significant, long-lasting injuries, and they are sadly lethal in many cases.  You may be entitled to financial compensation if you or a loved one have been injured in an NYC bus accident, but you need to move quickly: New York requires you to file a notice of your claim within ninety days of the accident if you are going to recover any money for your injuries.

This article aims to explain the law as it pertains to bus accident liability in NYC, the steps you should take after being injured in a bus accident, and what mistakes you should avoid in order to maximize the value of your case.  However, this article cannot be a substitute for the experience and insights that come from years of litigating these cases.

Dandalaw.com specializes in NYC bus accident cases with no upfront fees.  Our NYC bus accident lawyers have years of experience and significant knowledge about the law pertaining to these cases, how to properly investigate them, and how they proceed through New York’s legal system.

If you or a loved one have been injured in a bus accident then you need to reach out to the bus accident attorneys at Dansker & Aspromonte as soon as possible.  You can reach us at You can reach us at (516) 206-6723 to schedule your initial consultation free of charge.

Bus Accident Liability in NYC

Bus accident cases are often cases filed as negligence lawsuits.  After explaining negligence as a legal concept, this article will briefly detail the “common carrier duty” and New York’s comparative fault system.

Negligence

Negligence is a legal claim that can be brought under New York common law.[1]  In a negligence lawsuit, the injured person—also referred to as the plaintiff—must prove (a) that the defendant owed him or her a duty, (b) that the defendant then breached the duty he or she owed to the plaintiff, and (c) the defendant’s breach of the duty caused the plaintiff’s injury.[2]  Negligence claims are not the only legal theory under which a personal injury claim can be filed, but they comprise a substantial portion of the total number of personal injury lawsuits filed in the United States.

Common Carrier Duty

Under New York law, common carriers—such as buses—are financially responsible for the wrongful actions by their employees regardless of whether those actions are part of the employees’ job description or not.[3]  That responsibility stems from their duties to transport passengers safely and properly and to treat those passengers respectfully.

As stated above, negligence suits require that the plaintiff prove that the defendant caused the plaintiff’s injury by breaching a standard of care imposed by a legal duty that the defendant owed to the plaintiff.  In this context, the common carrier duty is the standard of care imposed on bus companies and their drivers by New York law.  This will be the applicable standard of care whenever a bus’s passenger is injured.

Comparative Negligence in New York

New York uses a system of comparative negligence to allocate responsibility for the injuries incurred in most bus accident cases.[4]  Under this system, an injured person will have the amount of money he receives from a successful bus accident lawsuit reduced by whatever proportion of fault that the jury assigns to him at trial.

For example, imagine that a pedestrian walks into a crosswalk as a bus approaches that intersection.  The bus’s light is turning yellow, indicating that the bus should slow down as it approaches the intersection, but it fails to slow down and hits the pedestrian.

The pedestrian then sues the bus company for negligence, and the case goes to trial.  The jury ultimately finds for the injured person, but it assigns 15% of the fault to the injured person.  That means the injured person’s damages would ultimately be reduced by that amount.

What to Do After an NYC Bus Accident

Every NYC bus accident case is different, but there are steps one can take in the aftermath of his or her injury to maximize the value of the case.  In addition to the “do’s” of these cases, there is also a short list of “do-not’s” that can be headed to protect the value of your case.  A few of these steps and pitfalls will be discussed below.

Step One: Get to Safety and Seek Medical Attention

Your safety and well-being are always the first priority.  The first thing to do after a bus accident is to remove yourself from the dangerous situation.  Then, once you have assured your own safety, call 911 to report the accident and get an ambulance on the scene if one is needed.

Step Two: Gather Critical Evidence at the Scene

One of the best things to do after suffering a bus accident is to make every effort you can to gather evidence at the scene of the accident.  Your injuries understandably prevent you from doing this, but you should try to locate or gather the following information if you are able to do so:

• the name of the bus driver;
• the names and contact information of the passengers or any other eyewitnesses;
• whether or not any security cameras or other pedestrians were recording at the time of the incident; and
• the precise location of the incident.

Taking photos of the scene at the time of the offense will also be a boon for your case.  All of this information will help your attorney begin his investigation as quickly as possible if you are able to provide it at the time of your consultation.

Step Three: File and Obtain the Report Number of a Police Report

Do not leave the scene of the accident unless the ambulance is taking you to the hospital or the police have released you from the scene.  The police will create a report about the incident, and you can acquire a copy of that report if you obtain the report number.

These police reports are important for several reasons.  First, they document the scene and are often accompanied by body camera footage from the officer that shows some of what you saw on that day.  Second, these reports are likely to contain the names, addresses, and contact information of witnesses and anyone else who was injured.  All of this is pivotal information when litigating these cases.

Step Four: Navigate NYC’s Claim Process

The MTA is the proper defendant in a lawsuit seeking damages due to injuries arising from a New York City bus accident.  The MTA is the agency responsible for managing New York City’s subways, MTA buses, railroads, bridges, and tunnels.  Filing a lawsuit against the MTA requires compliance with two different statutes.

First, New York City’s local laws require a notice of claim to be submitted to the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“MTA”) and the Office of the Comptroller if the action is filed against the City of New York.[5]  This notice must be submitted before any lawsuit can be filed against New York City’s MTA or the City itself for personal injuries arising from a bus accident.  Further, this must be filed within thirty days of the incident.

Second, New York State General Municipal Law § 50-e sets specific requirements for every personal injury case that would be filed against New York City.  Specifically, § 50-e requires a notice of claim to be served on the MTA within ninety days after the bus accident.  Further, § 50-e sets forth specific requirements for that notice:

• that notice must be in writing;
• it must state the name and post-office address of the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s lawyer;
• the notice must state the nature of the claim;
• the notice must state the time, place, and manner of the accident from which the lawsuit stems; and
• the notice must state—to the extent possible—an itemized list of damages sought.

Thirty days after receiving this notice, the City has a right to serve a 50-h notice.[6]  A 50-h hearing requires the injured person to testify—under oath—about their injuries and how they were injured.  If the person fails to attend the 50-h hearing then he or she may not be allowed to file a lawsuit.

These rules are stringent, and failure to comply with them can sink a plaintiff’s case before it begins.  This is why step five is so critical.

Step Five: Consult a Specialized NYC Bus Accident Attorney

Proving fault and causation in an NYC bus accident case is a complex task by itself, but the procedural stringencies intrinsic to these cases only further complicates these cases.  The best thing you can do for yourself and your case is to contact an NYC bus accident attorney as soon as your are able to do so.

A specialized NYC bus accident attorney can ensure you comply with all of the procedural rules in these cases.  Further, that attorney will help you understand the value of your case as well as its strengths, weaknesses, and any issues that may arise in the future.

Protecting Your case: How to Avoid Common Mistakes That Destroy Bus Accident Claims

There are mistakes you should avoid to avoid harming your NYC bus accident liability claim in addition to the proactive steps listed above.  What follows is a brief discussion of each mistake and why it can affect your case.

Mistake Number One: Do Not Settle Before Consulting An Attorney

You should always consult an NYC buss accident liability attorney prior to agreeing to any settlement for your claim.  Insurance companies know that your case is more valuable if you retain a lawyer than if you do not, and they will try to prevent you from ever speaking to an attorney in order to pay you less money than they know it is worth.

To that end, insurance companies often make lowball offers very early in a case—often before the injured person has a chance to consider speaking to an attorney—in an effort to reduce the money they pay out to the person.  In some cases, the company may even make what seems like a reasonable offer but set an arbitrary and very fast, impending deadline for the injured person to accept that offer.

Do not be swayed by the insurance company’s pressure tactics.   You should always speak to an attorney before accepting any personal injury settlement.

Mistake Number Two: Be Aware of the Claim Deadline

As stated above, you must draft and serve your notice on the MTA within ninety days of your injury.  Failing to do so can result in you never receiving any money at all.

There is a lot to worry about in the wake of a serious bus accident injury, but consulting with an attorney needs to be a priority to ensure your family is taken care of in the wake of this serious injury.  Consult with your attorney as soon as possible so that he or she can begin drafting your notice and get it on file with the appropriate NYC agency.

Mistake Number Three: Speaking With Insurance Adjusters

After the injury, an insurance company may also ask you to make a statement about the bus accident.  They will likely ask you questions about what happened, what your injuries were, and your feelings about the matter.

It is your right to refuse to give them such a statement before talking to an attorney, and that is a right you should exercise.  By asking you for that statement, the insurance company is trying to build a case against you before you speak to an attorney.  They do this by trying to get you to admit that you or another entity was at fault or to get you to make a statement that lowers the financial value of your case.

Expert Insights from Mutli-Million Dollar Case Studies

Recently, the bus accident attorneys at Dansker & Aspromonte resolved a bus accident case after a New York City bus hit our client in a crosswalk for over three million dollars.  Our client—a twenty-one year old Chinese boy who lived with significant developmental disabilities—suffered crippling injuries that prevented him from leaving the hospital.  Tragically, he died in that hospital several months later.

This was a tough case for our client.  At trial, several eyewitnesses testified that he stepped into the crosswalk against the light.  Ordinarily, this would have reduced the damages that his family could recover under New York’s comparative fault law.  However, our bus accident liability attorneys understood that the same law reduces a person’s share of liability for his or her own negligence if they suffer from a reduced mental capacity.  Our attorneys called the guidance counselor from our client’s school, who testified that our client was intellectually comparable to a seven-year old child at the time of his death.

Our strategy was ultimately successful: the jury found that our client could not be legally responsible for his actions due to his reduced mental capacity.  It then awarded 100% of the damages available to the tune of $3.5 million.

While every case is different and results cannot be guaranteed, this case is evidence of the skilled lawyering that the NYC bus accident attorneys at Dankser & Aspromonte do in every case we take.  The case profile and our contact form is linked here.

Conclusion

As you have seen, bus accident cases are legally complex cases with numerous avenues to hold NYC responsible when it, its agencies, or its bus drivers injure people due to their own wrongdoing.  After suffering an injury in one of these accidents, make sure to get yourself to safety, investigate to the extent you are able, and most importantly, contact an attorney before accepting an offer or making a statement.

When you do contact an attorney, contact our bus accident attorneys at Dansker & Aspromonte.  Our attorneys demonstrate their excellence in bus accident liability cases in and out of the courtroom, and that excellence is borne out by the results we achieve for our clients.

Call us today at (516) 206-6723 to schedule your consultation about your case.  Your initial consultation comes free of charge.  You can also reach out to us through our online portal, which is linked here for your convenience.

[1]  Solomon by Solomon v. City of New York, 66 N.Y.2d 1026 (1985).

[2]  Solomon by Solomon v. City of New York, 66 N.Y.2d 1026 (1985).

[3]  Adams v. NYC Tr. Auth., 88 N.Y.2d 116 (1996)

[4]  NY CPLR § 1411.

[5]  NYC Admin. Code § 7-201.

[6]  NY Gen. Mun. Law § 50-h.