Driver to work this morning, the back end of a school districts bus whipped around and smacked into the back passenger wheel fender. Not a huge amount of foreseen damage, but the cop that was there was ridiculous. There was a mark on the bus right where I said it happened, there was no paint transfer, so that didn't help my damn case. He said there was a difference in the height of where the mark was on the back of the bus's fender.

I tried to explain to the cop that when a bus make a right of left hand turn that the opposite side of the bus will come down some for stability. BTW this is one of those big yellow buses that sits up real high, not one of the ones that sits low to the ground. He disregarded my statements about it, I even tried to get him to have the driver do a turn so he could see what I was talking about. He didn't want to do that either. So he basically said I cannot write this up as an accident report, only as a property damage report.



No pics since I didn't have a camera at the time. The school district took some in case I decide to sue them, which I may very well do. Does anyone know what kind of lawyer I would need if i pursued it? I have a lawyer friend who deals in criminal cases (dui's, auto) stuff like that. So i'm going to call him also to see what he suggests and if there is enough evidence to pursue anything at all.

 

Some cops are just jerks... going against a school district is always a hard thing to do, although, there have been more victories in suing school districts than defeat. Good luck.

 

Well the funny thing is that he even stated that the injury to the back of the bus was very fresh, and the driver herself didn't even know where it had come from. And a bus that size she wouldn't have felt the hit (which she didn't because she started driving away to the nearby school where i had to flag her down)

 

Did the school or their insurance already refuse to pay? Why the hell are we talking about a lawsuit already?

 

Because we can sue anything in America.

 

Because the cop on scene said basically he's not writing it up as an accident report and only as property damage report.
I'm keeping my options open because the cop himself stated that pretty much the only thing to do in a case like this would
be to take it to court. I'm going to call the school district and talk to them about it, but if they refuse to do anything (which
i'm sure they will since it went in their favor with the cop). Then I will have no other option then to go to court if there is
enough evidence.

I'm quite sure that their insurance wouldn't pay for it unless the cop deems it as the drivers fault, which he did not.

 

Have you called yoru insurance company and explained the situation to them? If you have full coverage they may be able to go to bat for you to recover the losses in the accident on your behalf so they don't end up paying a claim for damage to your vehicle.

If you aren't claiming personal injury and lifelong debilitating blah blah blah, jsut trying to get your car fixed that may be the way to go before screwing around with lawsuits. Did you get the insurance information for the bus/ school district?

 

Yeah i was thinking of asking my insurance company that also. No I wasn't able to get the insurance company of them but I will get it when I call them up, the reason I couldn't get it is because the driver was having a panic attack and didn't want me anywhere near her.

 

I would find that driver and bus and get pics asap

Small claims court here you come

 

The school district has to take pictures and video. All I would need to do would be to subpoena them if I take it to court. If this can be dealt with outside of courts that would be a lot better. All i'd be asking them for would be the money it takes to fix my car. I wasn't hurt, no crazy weird injuries. I don't want money for excess bull crap or anything like that... merely the exact figure it takes to fix my car.

 

i work for statefarm. but what i would do is, call your agent. then set up a claim so that the claims office can investigate this accident. then if it doesnt go your way then you get a lawyer. but once you get a lawyer, ins company can no longer help you with the claim. at least in texas that is.

 

Yeah so far I have called the insurance company and set up a claim, so that the adjuster can come out and take a look at it. I have tried contacting the county's office to talk to them but the guy I need to talk to is either not in his office or not there. So I will get a hold of him later. Since the lawyer is a friend of mine I will just ask him advice on the entire problem also and see what he says about it. (Not that I will pursue a lawsuit just want his expert advise)

 

i just want to put my 2 cents in, i broke my arm in 6th grade back in 00 on a school playground and 5 yrs latter(almost 5 like 4.5 lol) i started a lawsuite against them ( lawyers idea , i wanted to go after the doctor) the reason is because my arm is givin me real bad problems......but to the point, they settles outa court for 45 thousand dollars...moral of the story is when u put a public figure or company on the spot for anything they just want it to go away.....like i said, my 2 cents tho

 

So... the bus driver was drifting?

 

[embed]29h-PO6UCD4[/embed]

 

hahah

 

No it wasn't drifting we were both at a stop sign, i was in the left turn lane and she was in the right, and when it made its turn, the back whipped around and hit me.

 

I am teacher and therefore work for a school system. I would write everything out and include pictures. School systems do not like negative publicity and lawyers make superintendents cringe. Ask for a meeting, present your evidence and lay out what how far you are willing to go to pursue this. I almost guarantee the school system's attorney's are going to settle before going to court...of course, all of this is dependent on the superintendent.

 

yay sue each other

 

Use the Chewbaca Defense.

 

the bus driver hit you and damaged your car, the school should pay for your car.

You pay your insurance company to take care of these kinds of things for you. Call your agent and your insurance company should have one of there lawyers appear with you in court. You just don't pay your insurance company to fix your car, you also pay for them to represent you and get the money you deserve. You shouldn't be subpoenaing or suing anyone, your insurance company should handle this for you

 

Yeah so far that's where it is at. I have made the claim and they said they are going to investigate and they will be contacting the school board to ask if they will take responsibility for this issue. It's only if they choose not to pay is this going to be a long drawn out process from what the claims rep said. The only thing is I think the bus driver is denying she did anything wrong whatsoever, so it's my word vs hers right now. But seeing as the insurance company has a lot more resources then I do, i'm going to let them deal with it for now and see where it goes. Hopefully a good outcome.

 

hell the bus had to be full of kids... the school should be able to ask them (the ones that sit in back) if you got hit.

 

^I'm with that. Kids see EVERYTHING, granted you always get multiple stories haha.

 

Unfortunately the bus was empty.