Were you injured in a bus accident in Salt Lake City, Utah? Contact McMinn Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation at (385) 462-7630. Our Salt Lake City bus accident lawyers can help you take legal action and pursue fair compensation.
We’re a trusted Utah personal injury law firm with a longstanding track record of winning results for our clients, with more than 40 years of experience and over $500 million recovered to date. Opposing parties take notice when we’re on the other side of the case and won’t be able to take advantage of you during the legal process as a result.
McMinn Personal Injury Lawyers thoroughly understands the legal nuance that can go along with bus accident claims, particularly when the case involves going up against a government entity. Not every law firm is capable of navigating this complexity, but our Salt Lake City personal injury attorneys have been doing so successfully for decades.
Here are some of the reasons our clients choose to work with us:
We can answer any questions you might have when we meet to review your case, so call our Salt Lake City bus accident lawyers today for a free consultation.
The value of a bus accident claim can vary widely depending on the facts and circumstances of your case. Crashes involving the most serious injuries tend to produce the highest settlements and verdicts, but there’s more to the equation than the severity of your injuries alone.
Some of the factors that can affect what your case is ultimately worth include:
We’ll aim to maximize the compensation you recover if you hire us to represent you. Contact McMinn Personal Injury Lawyers today to set up a free case assessment.
Utah law allows injured victims to seek compensation that reflects the full impact of what they’ve been through after a bus accident.
Your financial losses are recoverable as economic damages. These typically include:
You can also pursue non-economic damages for the personal toll the accident has taken on you, including:
In rare cases, punitive damages may also be available. These are reserved for situations where the at-fault party’s behavior was particularly reckless or intentional. However, they are not guaranteed and require a higher burden of proof.
If the accident involved a Utah Transit Authority (UTA) bus, the driver and the agency itself may both be at fault. Bus drivers and transit operators are considered common carriers under the law, meaning they’re held to a higher standard of care than ordinary drivers because they’re being paid to transport passengers safely. If that standard isn’t met, it can serve as a potential basis for a negligence claim.
Other potentially liable parties in a Salt Lake City bus accident include:
Our lawyers can identify all of the responsible parties and pursue every available source of compensation on your behalf.
Bus accident claims in Utah come with insurance and procedural challenges that don’t apply in most other types of cases. Utah is a no-fault state, so your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage will generally apply to your initial medical expenses regardless of who caused the crash. However, if your injuries are serious, you may be able to step outside of the no-fault system and file a claim directly against the at-fault party.
When a government-operated bus like a UTA vehicle is involved, the rules become even more specific. Claims against government entities in Utah are governed by the Governmental Immunity Act, which has specific notice and time limit requirements that we’ll touch on in more detail below.
Collisions involving buses tend to produce especially serious injuries due to the size and weight of these vehicles. Most public transit buses in Utah don’t have seat belts for passengers either, which only increases the risk of harm in a crash.
Our lawyers are prepared to help you file a claim after sustaining any of the following:
As long as your bus accident was someone else’s fault, you may be entitled to compensation for every injury you’ve sustained.
Utah follows a modified comparative negligence framework. Under this rule, you can still recover compensation as long as you are found to be less than 50% at fault for the accident. However, your total damages will be reduced by whatever percentage of fault is assigned to you.
For example, if a jury determines that your damages total $200,000 but you were 20% responsible for the crash, your recovery would be reduced to $160,000. If your fault reaches 50% or higher, you lose the right to recover anything at all.
Insurance companies know this system and frequently try to shift as much blame as possible onto the victim. That’s one of the reasons it makes sense to have an experienced bus accident attorney in your corner, as we can respond to these kinds of allegations appropriately.
Most bus accident attorneys in Utah, including our team at McMinn Personal Injury Lawyers, work on a contingency fee basis. That means you won’t pay anything upfront, and there are no flat fees or hourly rates to worry about. You only owe attorney’s fees if we recover compensation for you through a jury verdict or settlement.
This payment structure is meant to benefit both sides. You can hire our award-winning attorneys regardless of your financial circumstances, and we will be motivated to increase the value of your claim as much as we can.
The deadline for filing a bus accident claim in Utah depends on who you’re filing against. For claims involving private parties or companies, the standard personal injury statute of limitations generally gives you four years from the date of the accident.
However, if your case involves a government-operated bus like a UTA vehicle, the timeline is much shorter, in that you must file a formal notice of claim within one year. The agency then has 60 days to respond, and if your claim is denied, you generally have one year from that denial to file a lawsuit.
Were you involved in a bus accident in Salt Lake City, UT? You may be owed more compensation than you originally anticipated. McMinn Personal Injury Lawyers is here to help you take legal action and make the most of your claim.
Our Salt Lake City bus accident attorneys have already won hundreds of millions for our clients. Contact us today to learn more about your case and set up a free consultation.
