Injured in New York?
A New York Tour Bus injury can spoil your entire trip. You look forward to your trip to New York City. Your family buys tickets for a double-decker tour bus. You hop aboard, climb the stairs to the second level, sit down, and begin taking in the sights. Your focus is on enjoying the sights that New York City has to offer. Suddenly, a tree branch catches on the upper window, releases suddenly, and hits you with significant force without warning.
One of our German clients experienced just such a New York tour bus injury. As a result, she suffered a head injury. Sadly, a long-planned and once-in-a-lifetime family trip from Germany to New York City was entirely ruined. More importantly, medical treatment continued for the head injury in Germany. This resulted in a lengthy period of time in which our client suffered from ongoing, persistent headaches. She also felt a form of post-traumatic stress disorder due to the manner in which this injury occurred.
Experienced U.S. Personal Injury Attorneys
Jackson Law International has offices in both the United States and in Germany. This firm’s attorneys are highly experienced in personal injury law. Our German-speaking clientele, in particular, turns to us because we blend nearly 30 years of individual experience in personal injury law with native German-speaking proficiency. As a result, we ensure that nothing is lost in translation.
Our attorneys have appeared in cases throughout the United States, achieving multi-million-dollar results in several U.S. states.
Experience Matters in Personal Injury Cases
Finding an experienced litigator is critical to advance your case. For example, in this particular case involving a New York tour bus injury, understanding New York law was important. Notably, due to loopholes in New York state law, double-decker tour buses do not have to follow the same regulations and laws as other kinds of buses. For instance, tour bus companies are not required to report accidents to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Moreover, drivers do not have to undergo regular medical and driving tests.
However, these factors, in addition to the size and design of double-decker tour buses, present a number of potential dangers and unique hazards against which drivers and a tour bus company must safeguard. Those risk factors include open-top busses that leave passengers exposed to danger. Such danger includes, for example, the elements or hitting a low hanging overpass, due to the driver forgetting the height of the bus or underestimating the amount of available space, or, as in this case, other hazards. Such hazards include the environment outside the bus – here trees.
Understanding the Law to Get Proven Results
New York City double-decker sightseeing buses are considered municipal passenger transportation. As a common carrier, the tour bus and its driver have the duty to exercise reasonable care and diligence to keep the deck of the bus reasonably safe from objects outside of the bus such as overhanging tree branches and low-hanging traffic lights and signs.
Similarly, bus passengers expect that, in return for the price of the fare, they will be taken to their destinations safely. This is especially so on a tour bus, where the passenger is in an unknown locale with different / unknown conditions and expects to be informed about issues of security and safety by a tour bus company.
Therefore, the tour bus is subject to the standard of care imposed upon a common carrier to act as a reasonably prudent carrier would under similar circumstances. The tour bus company and its driver knew of the unusually dangerous condition posed by tree branches coming into contact with the windshield on the second floor of the tour bus and hurtling towards its passengers, and had the duty to warn their passengers of unusual and dangerous conditions.
Utilizing these arguments, we secured a favorable settlement amount for our client in her New York Tour Bus injury case.
Contact
We encourage you to explore our website to learn more about Jackson Law International, its attorneys, and the firm’s practice areas.
Our cross-border experience allows us to assist clients in international matters, and the firm will put that experience to work for you in your personal injury case.
Feel free to contact us to discuss your case.
By Michael R. Jackson, Shareholder
© Jackson Law International 2021