Seattle Tour Bus Accident Victims and Attorney Representation

Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers Seek Compensation for Your Injuries

Washington State Bus Accident Lawyers Helping Tour Bus Accident Victims

One of the more popular ways to see a certain location or an entire list of destinations is for groups of travelers to pay for the use of a tour bus. While it would seem to many that lowering the number of drivers on a trip to one would also lower the risks involved with travel, the unfortunate fact remains that tour bus accidents do happen and when they do, they often lead to several serious injuries and fatalities.

If this has happened to you, the best step you can take is to seek the help of an experienced Seattle bus accident lawyer. In the meantime, below you’ll find information regarding the nature of tour bus arrangements, the potential defendants in a bus accident personal injury lawsuit, and finally how you should proceed if you or someone you love has been injured or worse in a tour bus accident in WA or involving a Washington company.

The Nature of Tour Bus Arrangements

Tour bus arrangements can come in all different forms, and the structure of this situation can make all the difference if the tour bus is involved in an accident and people are injured if legal claims are filed in the aftermath. Basically, a tour bus is hired for a group of private individual passengers who all have the same trip in mind.

This tour bus can be hired by a travel agency, can be contracted through a tour company, can be negotiated with a tour company that’s being subsidized by a destination or set of destinations on the proposed tour route or can be hired through a third party such as a tavern, a restaurant, a social club of some sort or even a school association.

Potential Defendants in a Tour Bus Accident Case

As stated above, the nature of the tour bus arrangement can be directly relevant to the lawsuit or lawsuits that are filed after a tour bus accident occurs in which people are injured, killed or suffer any form of damages. Below is a look at the different legal scenarios that can play out when injured passengers look to obtain justice and to recover compensation for injuries.

The Tour Company

If an arrangement is made such that a bus owned by a tour company and staffed with a driver who is employed by that tour company gets into an accident, then those passengers would likely have a claim against the tour company as a whole if the bus in which they were riding was at fault for the collision that occurred. Even though many contracts signed between travelers and tour companies contain waivers of liability, these waivers may not stand up and prevent injured passengers from filing a legal claim if there was negligence involved with the resulting injuries and damages.

The Tour Company and the Destination or Destinations

There are arrangements in existence where a tour company that owns a bus that carries tourist passengers has side deals in place with certain businesses or destinations along the trip’s route. Generally, these arrangements involve the payment of commissions to the tour company, the bus driver or both that hinge on whether the tour passengers patronize certain businesses during their travels. A common example of this would be an agreement between a tour company and a casino, whereby the tour company, the bus driver or both are paid commissions if the passengers visit that casino and gamble. In this instance, everyone involved with the arrangement could be a valid defendant in a legal claim for damages.

The Bus Driver

In almost any tour bus accident, the bus driver could be a defendant in any legal actions filed that seek damages for injuries suffered. Basically, the liability that’s faced by the bus driver will depend on whether or not that driver was negligent in the events that led to the accident. Legal technicalities could also arise that turn on whether the bus driver was an employee of the tour company or an independent contractor.

The Other Driver or Drivers

Of course, as is the case with any traffic accident, it’s possible that the other driver or drivers in that accident were at fault. In this situation, the resulting legal claims would be much like any other legal claim filed against a negligent driver.

How Seattle Bus Accident Lawyers Can Help

If you or someone you love has been harmed in a tour bus accident either in Washington or while using a tour company that operates in Washington, you need to concentrate on your recovery and allow professionals to make sure that your legal rights are properly protected and enforced. Contact the Seattle bus accident lawyers at Phillips Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation, and the legal technicalities listed above will no longer be your concern.