I would recommend him to anybody... I have had a very pleasant experience dealing with Michael Grossman and I think you will have a pleasant experience in using him too.
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C. Brimage
Automobile Accident Case
Fatal Bus Accidents
Bus Accident Attorney Michael Grossman Discusses Your Legal Rights After Losing a Loved One in a Bus Accident
Every year in the United States, roughly 300 buses are involved in accidents that result in injuries to the passengers on the bus or pedestrians or the drivers and passengers of other cars. While we all have the capacity to get into accidents whenever we’re behind the wheel, the fallout tends to be much greater when the vehicle in question is a bus.
Not only does the sheer size of a bus lead to very serious consequences when the buses get into wrecks, but also the number of passengers. When buses get into accidents, the number of people injured or killed will be high, since the bus driver is responsible for the safety of all of the passengers.
If your loved one was killed while riding a bus in Texas or Arkansas, then you may have the right to seek compensation though either an insurance claim or a wrongful death lawsuit against the party responsible. At Grossman Law Offices, our fatal bus accident attorneys have been dealing with wrongful death litigation for 20 years, so we can give you excellent opportunity to recover the maximum equitable restitution.
Determining Blame
Before proceeding with any wrongful death lawsuit, you first must have the grounds for a successful claim, and this requires three essential elements to your case:
- Duty – a party owed your loved one a legal responsibility of some sort. No matter what the circumstances, everyone owes everyone else the duty of acting reasonably so as to cause others harm. This duty changes depending upon the situation. For example, the bus driver has the duty of operating the bus safely.
- Breach – that the required duty was neglected. In terms of bus accidents, this can happen when the driver operates the bus recklessly, but don’t assume the bus driver is the source of blame for all bus accidents. There may have been other breaches that caused the accident, but we will discuss that issue later on in the article.
- Causation – the breach of duty resulted in a fatal accident which killed your loved one. For example, if the bus driver runs a stoplight and an 18-wheeler collides with the bus, killing four of the passengers onboard.
While this discussion makes fatal bus accidents sound cut and dry, in fact, there are often a wide variety of parties who may have caused the accident in whole in or part by breaching their required duties. Obviously, as we’ve already suggested, the bus driver may have caused the fatal bus accident by speeding or merely by suffering a momentary loss of concentration or reason. When driving a bus, it’s easy to become distracted by the actions of the passengers on the bus.
Additionally, you may not be aware that the bus driver’s negligence also makes the company that owned the bus liable for the accident, as well. Both Texas and Arkansas recognize a legal principle called respondeat superior that makes an employer responsible for the negligent actions or inaction of their employees. School buses represent almost 40 percent of all bus accidents, but buses come in various kinds – city, school, church, charter or privately owned. Thus, the party from whom one seeks compensation following a fatal bus accident can vary dramatically.
However, there are also many other different liable parties that may have caused any given bus accident. A mechanical malfunction could have caused the accident, or poor design of the bus’ cabin could have made the consequences of the wreck far worse than they should have been. In either case, the manufacturer of the bus assumes liability. Unless the mechanical malfunction was due to a maintenance error, and then the mechanic would be liable. Moreover, a bus accident doesn’t have to be the fault of the driver or the bus. Another driver on the road could have operated his or her car in an unsafe manner, causing the wreck, or a pedestrian could have negligently stepped in front of the bus, causing the driver to swerve into a fatal accident. Additionally, it’s even possible that another passenger on the bus created a commotion in the cabin, distracting the driver and causing the wreck.
In any given bus accident, any of these possibly negligent parties could have caused or contributed to the cause of the fatal accident, so you need the help of a fatal bus accident attorney who has extensive experience investigating other bus accidents in order to identify all of the liable parties, let alone actually locate the evidence to prove your case in court. It’s highly possibly that more than one party helped caused the fatal bus accident that killed your loved one.
What Compensation are You Entitled to Receive?
When somebody you love has been robbed of his or her life in a fatal bus accident, it can be a devastating experience for the entire family. Not only are you waylaid emotionally, but you’re saddled with enormous bills without the economic support your loved one may have supplied. While it might seem tacky thinking about money right now, pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit is usually your only means of delivering justice against the negligent party who caused the wreck. Also, from experience we know that families can often find relief emotionally when their financial burdens are relieved.
With this in mind, the grieving family has the right to seek both wrongful death damages and survival damages in one comprehensive lawsuit. In Arkansas, the family must also name a personal representative of the estate before moving forward with this lawsuit. Wrongful death damages are intended to compensate the spouse, children, and parents of the deceased for the measurable financial setbacks and emotional turmoil they’ve incurred as a result of their loved one’s death. Thus, these family members are entitled to seek compensation for:
- Emotional and mental distress caused by the death.
- Funeral bills.
- Loss of the unique familial love and consortium the victim provided.
- Loss of the monetary support provided by the deceased.
In addition, the closest living relative of the deceased is also permitted the right to seek compensation for the suffering the victim experienced. This right immediately falls to the spouse, but can then be inherited by children, parents, and finally siblings. Survival damages can include restitution for:
- Property damage.
- Medical expenses charged to the victim before dying.
- Pain and suffering caused by the accident.
- Mental and emotional pain experienced by the deceased.
Proving some of these damages is simple, since medical bills can be easily established by producing the physical bills themselves. However, pain and suffering is a much more debatable non-economic damage. Only someone with experience handling other wrongful death cases of similar ilk will be able to put an accurate price tag on this sort of thing. At Grossman Law Offices, we can help you maximize your compensation possibilities.
Challenges to Wrongful Death Cases After Fatal Bus Accidents
Both the families of people who were killed while riding buses and the families of those who are driving or riding in other cars when they are struck or killed by buses must overcome challenges to secure compensation. These procedural obstacles can often trip up the families of victims who attempt to handle their own cases. However, a skilled and seasoned fatal bus accident attorney can leap over any of these hurdles with little problem.
Enormous Insurance Policies
Before doing business, bus companies must insure their buses heavily to protect against eventual accidents. While you would think this is a good thing, giving you ample funds to recover. However, that’s not always the case, as more money at stake might mean the insurance company will put forth a stronger effort to reject your claim.
With huge sums of money at stake, insurance companies will often assign their shrewdest and toughest adjusters to handle bus accident cases. These adjusters have made a reputation in their company for denying claims, and they will try to find a way to deny yours. Failing that, they may try to convince you to accept a low-ball settlement that is far less than you deserve for the loved one you’ve lost in exchange for surrendering your right to file a lawsuit in the future. However, they won’t attempt to pull these shenanigans on someone who has protected his or her family’s interests with the counsel of an experienced and renowned fatal bus accident attorney. In the two decades we’ve been handling wrongful death and personal injury litigation, we’ve faced off with and defeated every significant insurance company in the United States. When insurance companies offer our clients settlements, they’re usually fair and equitable because they know we will not accept less.
If the insurance company attempts to refute your claim, they may bring in their lawyers to attack its validity. If this is the case, your only chance of securing compensation is through adequate legal representation of your own. Skilled defense lawyers can all too easily defeat inexperienced non-lawyers with procedural loopholes.
The Other People Injured or Killed
The problem in seeking compensation after a bus accident comes from the fact that such accidents usually leave several people injured or killed – all of the other passengers on the bus and anyone else struck by the bus. It’s not unheard of for a fatal bus accident to result in as many as 50 wrongful death claims.
When all of these claims are filed against a single insurance policy for a bus, your compensation possibilities can be limited. This is why you need to act quickly and get an aggressive fatal bus accident lawyer working on your case as soon as your can, for fast action gives you the best chance of securing maximum compensation. Furthermore, a skilled attorney may be able to identify a liable party from whom none of the other victims have sought compensation. At Grossman Law Offices, our attorneys know how to get the insurance company to prioritize your claim. The sooner you can put your legal action in motion, the better chance you have of securing damages before the insurance funds have been depleted.
Untrustworthy Bus Driver
We don’t want to suggest that bus drivers are dishonest. They’re not for the most part. However, when a bus driver negligently causes a fatal accident, he or she will probably lose his or her job and find it extremely difficult to locate employment elsewhere. Even a normally trustworthy person might attempt to divert blame onto other parties by lying in order to avoid this fate. Of course, the insurance company is more than willing to go along with the falsehood if it prevents them from paying out wrongful death and survival damages to a busload full of passengers.
At Grossman Law Offices, we’ve been investigating all types of fatal accidents and questioning deceptive witnesses for 20 years. We’ve often been able to locate surveillance footage or contradictory eyewitness accounts that prove the driver’s deception. In other instances, we’ve used a clever deposition strategy to trick the driver into revealing his or her own lie.
How Grossman Law Offices Can Help You
If someone you love has been killed in a fatal bus accident, the trial-tested attorneys at Grossman Law Offices can help. We know how emotionally ravaged you are right now, so we want to alleviate the additional stress of resolving your wrongful death lawsuit, allowing you to concentrate on the healing process. We offer the following services to help you bounce back from your difficult situation:
- Determining all of the liable parties who caused the fatal bus accident.
- Buffering you from interactions with the insurance company.
- Fighting with the insurance company to give your claim priority over the claims of other injured passengers and the families of others wrongfully killed in the bus wreck.
- Protecting you from the tricks of insurance adjusters and defense lawyers.
- Pressuring the insurer into a fair settlement with our long history of success.
- Shining a light on the bus driver’s lies.
- Finding the necessary evidence to prove your case with a thorough investigation into the accident.
You need to act quickly to find an attorney, so call Grossman Law Offices now for a free consultation at 1-855-589-5645 (toll free). We will give you the opportunity to discuss your loved one’s death with a wrongful death specialist, ask any questions you may have, and learn how you can begin the recovery process.
Recovered for client who suffered soft-tissue damage which required physical therapy after being rear ended by a commercial vehicle.
$40,000.00
$13,333.00
$50.00
Our firm was hired to pursue a claim against a negligent following a rear-end car accident. The plaintiff was driving her vehicle in traffic on I-30 in Dallas, TX when the defendant approached from behind and collided with her vehicle, pushing it into the vehicle in front of her. The plaintiff sustained disc compression and herniation at C3-4 which required surgery to rectify. The defendant's ultimately accepted liability but heavily disputed the damages. Under threat of litigation, the defendants raised their offer. Our attorneys continued to aggressively negotiate on behalf of our client and a satisfactory result was eventually obtained.
$225,000.00
$95,000.00
$2,500.00
Facility sued for negligent contribution to the death of an innocent bystander. A fatal shooting occurred on the property after the facility failed to appropriately respond to outbursts of violence & gang activity. Following the young man's death, his parents hired our firm to pursue the facility for their negligent actions including failure to provide adequate security. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
Confidential
Confidential
Confidential
Recovery for motorcyclist who suffered a back injury in an 18-wheeler accident.
$200,000.00
$80,000.00
$5,709.00
(policy limits) A husband and father of three was killed when the driver of an 18-wheeler veered into oncoming traffic, striking the young man's vehicle and several others. The defendant was employed by a small construction company that operated only a single 18-wheeler. As such, the defendants were largely underinsured and were not financially solvent.
Furthermore, the defendants had an eroding insurance policy and numerous other parties were intent upon filing claims of their own since the 18-wheeler struck multiple other vehicles. This created the need for an aggressive and rapid response before the other claimants could erode the policy.
Defense counsel made it clear that they wished to litigate the case despite the insurmountable liability arguments that our attorneys presented. They intended to designate a third party as a responsible defendant since the accident happened in a construction zone, even though it was abundantly clear that the construction zone played no role in the crash.
Additonally, the defendants made it clear that they wished to downplay the extent of the damages by virtue of a character assasination on the decedent. Fortunately for our clients, our firm has successfully litigated against the defendant's insurer in nearly a dozen cases, so the carrier was quite aware of our courtroom capabilities. We presented a sample lawsuit to the defendant's insurance carrier and informed them that the lawsuit was to be filed the moment that they refused to settle.
Additionally, our attorneys submitted a Stowers' Demand with a brief window of time for the defendants to respond. We made it abundantly clear that we intended to seek punitive damages and that we would assert the full limits of the carrier's exposure under the Stowers' Demand should the carrier not offer policy limits.
The defendant's attorney adamantly persuaded the carrier to litigate, however, our attorney's threats of litigation, past track record, and incredibly aggressive pre-litigation actions convinced the insurance carrier to disregard their own attorney's advice and to settle the case, lest they face our attorneys in court.
Had our clients been represented by virtually any other firm who did not have our specific track record or who would have not recognized that this case required special and immediate attention coupled with an abnormally aggressive stance, the client's would have certainly been tied up in litigation for years, with the limited supply of funds rapidly depleting since the other claimants who did not need to litigate would have essentially had right of first refusal.
$1,000,000.00
$333,333.00
$0.00
(policy limits) A young mother was killed in an accident involving two commercial vehicles, one an 18-wheeler. The accident occurred as the young woman was a passenger in a vehicle that was traveling down a highway in the early morning hours. Without warning, the vehicle in which she was a passenger collided with a stalled 18-wheeler that parked in the right of way, resulting in catastrophic injuries that claimed the young woman's life soon thereafter.
The authorities initially faulted the driver of the vehicle in which the victim was a passenger, stating that he was using an electronic device rather than paying full attention to the roadway. However, the 18-wheeler was indeed blocking the roadway and plaintiff alleged that the vehicle did not follow the requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act in regard to providing adequate reflective or laminated warning at specific intervals. Further, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant failed to remove his vehicle from the roadway when he first noticed signs of mechanical failure.
Had he simply moved to the shoulder of the road, plaintiffs argued, his lack of adequate warning signs would have been inconsequential. An initial settlement has been obtained in this case, yet litigation has commenced in full against the remaining defendant, and is currently ongoing.
$250,000.00
$78,000.00
$370.00
Recovery for driver struck from behind by 18-wheeler: Driver sustained back and neck injury.
$145,000.00
$48,333.00
$2,696.00
A young woman suffered a back injury that required corrective surgery following a boating accident. The boat in question sped out of control and crashed into a landmass, throwing our client from the boat, as the result of a stuck throttle. Upon inspection of the boat, it was determined that a poor design led to the malfunction and a product liability lawsuit was brought against the manufacturer. The defendants argued that the boat was inappropriately piloted, however, the physical evidence depicted the cause of the accident quite clearly and the case was successfully resolved.
$350,000.00
$100,000.00
$100.00
Plaintiff suffered a back injury resulting in spinal fusion surgery when her car was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler. The defendants argued that the accident was unavoidable, thus denying liability. Litigation commenced and the case was satisfactorily resolved soon thereafter.
$875,000.00
$288,750.00
$2,500.00
Plaintiff, a delivery driver, suffered a back injury resulting in spinal fusion surgery when he was injured in an accident involving falling cargo from an 18-wheeler. The defendants cited the plaintiff's failure to take evasive action as a source of contributory negligence and litigation commenced accordingly which culminated in an acceptance of liability and eventually satisfactory resolution.
$530,000.00
$210,000.00
$5,000.00