When you suffer injuries in a Southern California bus accident, the party who caused the accident– or their insurer– is ultimately responsible for paying your medical bills for the treatment of your injuries. Unfortunately, the process of identifying the responsible party and then recovering compensation is rarely simple or straightforward.
Your best strategy to cut through the red tape that might prevent or delay payment of your medical bills is to retain a Los Angeles bus accident attorney. They will have the skills and expertise to negotiate for full reimbursement of all of your accident-related losses and expenses, including your medical bills
For more than 20 years, at Salamati Law, we have helped injured California residents to collect payments for their medical bills. In every Los Angeles bus accident case, we use our knowledge and experience to recover the largest available damages awards for each of our injured clients.
What parties might be responsible for your medical bills?
Passengers who suffer injuries in Los Angeles bus accidents are often passive victims of someone else’s negligence. As a result, the party responsible for paying for an injured passenger’s medical bills will depend on the facts of each case. For example:
- in a school bus crash, the driver, the educational district, or the private company that contracted with the school district to provide transportation all might bear liability for medical expenses
- an injured passenger who was riding a Los Angeles Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) bus might be able to recover medical bill reimbursement from the MTA or another city or county agency
- private tour bus companies and their insurers will be liable for medical bills and expenses incurred by their passengers when the private bus is involved in an accident
- if a private or public bus had a manufacturing defect or was negligently modified, the manufacturer or installer of modification might be liable for medical bills if the defects were the cause of the accident
- third party drivers and their insurers would be required to reimburse medical bills if their negligence was a source of the accident
In every Southern California bus accident case, the first order of business for a Los Angeles personal injury attorney will be to study the accident’s facts and details. They do this to identify the parties who will most likely be held responsible for the medical bills incurred by injured bus passengers.
When will an injured bus passenger’s medical bill be paid?
Reimbursement of an injured bus passenger’s medical bills can take months or years to resolve. In the interim, the passenger’s medical insurance will typically cover treatment for accident-related injuries. Passengers who do not have medical insurance might be eligible for Medicare or Medi-Cal reimbursements and discounts that hospitals and medical centers are required to extend to uninsured patients.
In addition to fighting to recover the largest damages award, you are entitled to receive, your lawyer will manage negotiations with health care providers.
What might prevent an injured bus passenger from receiving reimbursement for medical bills?
Injured California bus passengers have two years from the date of an accident to file a lawsuit for recovery of compensation for their medical bills from private parties. If the injured passenger intends to sue a public entity, such as the Los Angeles city or county government, this deadline is much shorter.
In addition, the injured passenger might also need to file a separate notice of their claim before filing a lawsuit. A passenger who misses these deadlines will likely lose all rights to recover compensation for medical bills.
Moreover, a passenger who waits until just before the applicable deadline can also hurt their chances to recover reimbursement for medical bills– because the facts and details will fade quickly. Determining which party caused a bus accident will be more challenging when an injured passenger does not retain a personal injury attorney to investigate the accident as soon as is possible after it happened.
Contact our team of Los Angeles bus accident lawyers for a free consultation
Salamati Law offers free consultations on recovering payment for medical bills after a Los Angeles bus accident. Please see our website or call our offices directly for a no-fee conference with a personal injury lawyer about your Southern California bus accident case.
