According to reporting from KSAT.com, a heartbreaking bus accident recently occurred on a rural stretch of highway, north of Laredo. The tragic bus accident killed eight people and injured at least forty two others. The commercial bus was reportedly traveling to San Juan, Texas. Highway officials stated that the driver lost control of the vehicle and the bus rolled over. However, the official cause of the accident has not yet been determined. However, concerning reports have been released about the safety record of the company that was operating the business.
The Bus Operator Has a History of Maintenance Problems
The bus involved in this accident was operated by OGA Charters, a company headquartered in Texas. In early 2015, the state of Louisiana ordered OGA Charters to take two of their buses out of service. This was because of issues with the brakes and the emergency exits. Only a few months after that incident with Louisiana, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered the company to remove one of their buses from service a second time, for similar issues with the brakes. Official accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will now be responsible for conducting a thorough investigation of the accident. If any safety violations are found to be a contributing cause to the wreck, there will likely be substantial legal ramifications.
Commercial Bus Accident Lawsuits
If you have been injured in a Texas bus accident, you will need a qualified attorney in order to recover fair compensation for your injuries. Injured bus accident victims need to prove that another party’s negligence caused their injuries in order to hold them responsible. A bus operator is negligent when they fail to take reasonable precautions to protect the safety of the passengers. In Texas, commercial buses are classified as common carriers. This means that they have a heightened obligation to look out for the safety of their passengers. Negligence could include anything from putting a vehicle on the road without a proper safety inspection to putting an inadequately trained driver behind the wheel of the bus. Your bus accident attorney will help you prove negligence in your case by:
- Comprehensively reviewing the accident reports;
- Extensively Interviewing all available witnesses;
- Taking, and collecting, detailed photographs of the accident scene;
- Consulting with experts to do an accident analysis;
- Reviewing your medical records; and
- Analyzing the history of the bus driver and the inspection reports of the vehicle.
Your attorney may need to conduct depositions of employees and representatives of the bus operator and may need to subpoena company records. Commercial bus accident cases can be extremely complex, it is critical to get your case in the hands of an experienced professional as soon as possible.
Contact Our Office Today
Companies that operate commercial buses have a legal duty to provide customers with a safe travel. If you were injured by a bus operator’s negligence, you deserve full and fair compensation. Our experienced bus accident lawyers can help. Contact our San Antonio office today at (210) 308-8811 to schedule a free review of your case.
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