Children are one of our most precious resources and it is particularly tragic when they are injured or even killed in school bus accidents. When injuries or death resulting from a school bus accident were avoidable, the court may order that the school district compensate the victims or their families. David A. Axelrod & Associates looks for the most viable claims and the best defendants, seeking maximum recovery for their clients.

Examples of School Bus Accident Cases

Examples of situations in which school districts have been held liable for school bus accidents include:

• When the district employs a driver who they knew or should have known was not competent to be driving a school bus, in some instances due to drug or alcohol addiction
• When a school bus causes injuries to someone outside of the bus, such as a pedestrian or people in another vehicle
• When a school bus driver fails to obey traffic laws such as by running a red light or speeding, thereby causing a school bus accident
• When the school district fails to maintain the bus properly and because of the failure of proper maintenance the brakes are not operating properly, causing an accident
• In the example above, when an underlying defect inherent in the manufacturing process is what causes the school bus brakes to fail
• When a school district fails to discover, determine, or monitor the health conditions of a school bus driver, when the driver develops a condition which leads to an accident
• When a school district does not follow their own guidelines on hiring and recklessly employs an unfit driver
• When a school bus driver fails to exercise appropriate care in driving such as by falling asleep behind the wheel or texting while driving, resulting in an accident
• When a manufacturer fails to install appropriate safety equipment such as seatbelts that would have prevented or lessened the injuries suffered in a crash

In school bus accident cases where another vehicle is at fault, a party other than the school district may be held liable. For instance, when a delivery truck causes a school bus accident, the driver of the truck or the company that owned the truck may be named as defendants. In other cases, school districts contract for an outside party to provide school bus services, and in these cases there is another potential defendant in the company that provided the services.

David A. Axelrod & Associates: Proven Results in Bus Accident Cases

David A. Axelrod & Associates has successfully represented clients involving bus accidents. In one such case, David A. Axelrod & Associates settled a case against a bus manufacturer for $3 million in connection with a bus rollover. David A. Axelrod & Associates argued that there was a product defect in the chassis and warning mechanism supplied by the manufacturer, and that the lack of seatbelts was an inherently dangerous condition.