Santa Fe Bus Accident Lawyer

How do you recover from a bus accident? You can work with emergency responders to address your injuries, but you may find yourself left with a mountain of bills and no way to pay them. Fortunately, New Mexico’s civil courts give you the opportunity to pursue compensation for bus accident losses alongside Santa Fe bus crash attorneys.

You can specifically work with Zinda Law Group’s New Mexico-based personal injury lawyers. Our team has decades of experience that we can put to use investigating your recent crash. In turn, we can help you fight for the bus accident compensation you need to address your post-accident bills.

Let’s work together to get your life back on track.

The Benefits of Pursuing Legal Action After a Bus Accident

Many survivors find themselves reluctant to file a personal injury case against a bus driver or the driver’s employer after a dangerous accident. Some survivors believe that the pursuit of justice through New Mexico’s civil court system will cut into their recovery time. Others may believe that they won’t get the settlement they deserve if they pursue a case.

Our attorneys understand these concerns and work to refute them. To start, we make sure that you and your loved ones have as much time as you need to address your bus accident-related injuries. We can work on your schedule. Moreover, we operate on contingency to avoid exasperating your post-accident financial concerns.

As for the settlement you may receive, you can count on Zinda Law Group’s bus accident attorneys in Santa Fe to continually advocate for your right to the most possible accident compensation. We do not accept insufficient offers to speed along a case. We do not compromise your right to essential damages.

You can learn more about our aggressive approach to your recovery when you schedule a case consultation with our team.

How to Assign Blame for a Bus Accident

Before you can demand financial compensation from a bus driver or their employer, you need to determine which of these parties, or any others, you have the right to assume legal action against. This process requires you to investigate the nature of your accident for signs of negligence.

You do not have to return to the scene of your bus accident yourself, particularly not if you’re contending with severe injuries. You can request that an attorney do so in your stead. Our team has the experience to bring forward the data most relevant to your case. This may include some combination of the following:

• Videos of your bus accident
• Physical debris
• Statements from witnesses
• Input from expert witnesses, including accident recreationists
• A police report
• Medical bills asserting the nature of your losses

That said, evidence doesn’t dictate fault on its own. Contracts can often play a role in who assumes the blame for an accident, particularly an accident involving a bus or commercial vehicle.

Blaming Government Agencies

If you get hit by a bus driver that works for the Santa Fe city government, you may have the right to hold the city legally accountable for your recovery. That said, most city employees, including bus drivers, operate under some form of qualified immunity. 

This means that you may have less time to file your personal injury claim and that a liable party may not have to pay for your losses. These possibilities do not render your personal injury case pointless, though. If you’re working with a Santa Fe, NV, bus accident attorney, you can work within the applicable civil statutes to fight for your right to financial support.

Blaming Private Corporations

There’s also a chance that you may have been hit by a bus driver working for a private company. If this is the case, you need to determine whether the driver who hit you works as an independent contractor or as a corporate employee.

If the driver works as a corporate employee, then the corporation they work for may have to assume liability for your losses. It’s with that possibility in mind that most bussing agencies hire drivers as independent contractors. Independent contractors are legally liable for their own roadway misconduct.

You can work with an attorney to determine the role a liable driver played at the time of your accident. Our team can look further into a driver’s standing if it looks like a corporation may be obscuring that driver’s employment records to avoid liability.

What Damages to Request in a Bus Accident

You have the right to demand economic and non-economic bus accident damages. These damages can cover the cost of losses like the following:

• Emotional distress
• Accident-related stress
• Mental anguish
• Pain and suffering
• Post-accident emergency care
• Long-term medical treatment
• Lost wages
• Lost opportunities to return to work
• Property damage and restoration

Our team can continually advocate for your right to the most possible bus accident compensation.

How to Demand Bus Accident Damages

If you want to demand your damages, you need to submit a bus accident claim to Santa Fe’s civil courts within the deadline established in Ch. 37, Art. 1, Sec. 37-1-8 of the New Mexico Statutes. This statute of limitations gives you three years to file your claim. It can be difficult to secure compensation for your losses if you try to file outside of this deadline.

That said, filing a claim that then gets approved gives you the right to either negotiate for your losses or go straight to trial. You can discuss which course of action might best suit your fight for compensation when you first meet with the bus accident lawyers in Santa Fe, NV.

Zinda Law Group Stands With You

Are you ready to demand compensation for your bus accident losses? Let Zinda Law Group’s attorneys in Santa Fe help. Our team can investigate the negligence that led to your accident while you focus on getting your life back on track. Once we have the evidence we need to establish your case, we can bring your losses to a judge’s attention.

You can count on our personal injury lawyers to make the civil process as straightforward and understandable as possible. Do you have questions about your post-bus accident rights? Contact our team. We can schedule your initial, no-charge case evaluation today.