Florida Bus Accident Lawyer
A bus is somebody else’s vehicle, somebody else’s driver and somebody else’s insurer, and you are the one hurt. We can take it from here. Call 954-522-5800 for a free consultation. You pay us nothing unless we win. We have won these claims for Floridians from the Keys to the Panhandle, and we work them from five offices between Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers.
If the bus belonged to a transit authority, a city, a county or a school district, the claim is against a government entity under Fla. Stat. § 768.28. No suit can be filed until written notice has been presented and the agency has answered it or run out of time to, and recovery is capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. The genuinely short clock is the onboard video, not the deadline.
Winning bus accident claims for Floridians for more than thirty years
A bus accident claim arrives at a hard time, usually while the bills are still coming in and nobody has told you what happens next. You do not have to work it out on your own. The attorneys in this photograph have won these cases across Florida since 1993, from the Keys to the Panhandle, and one of them will handle yours from the first call to the last check.
Call 954-522-5800 for a free consult and a trial lawyer will tell you today whether you have a case. You pay us nothing unless we win, and we work from five offices between Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers.
Meet the attorneys →What Florida law does with a bus accident claim
A claim against a public operator has to go through a written notice and a waiting period before a suit can even be filed, and the notice has to reach the right office. Meanwhile you are dealing with the injury, the missed work, and an incident report nobody has shown you. Getting that sequence started properly is our job, and it begins the day you call.
Nearly everything that makes a bus claim different from a car claim comes down to who owns the bus. A county transit authority, a school board, a private charter company and an interstate motorcoach operator are four different defendants under four different sets of rules. Below is how to tell which you are dealing with and what each one means.
Most Florida bus claims are against a public body: a transit authority, a school board or a city. That puts them under the sovereign immunity statute, which requires written notice before suit, a waiting period, and caps recovery at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident whatever the injury is worth.
The deadline that ends a Florida bus accident claim
The deadline on a bus claim depends on who owns it, and the shortest and strictest version applies to the buses most people ride.
A public bus, and the notice that comes before anything
A county or city transit authority, a school board or a municipal shuttle is a public body, and Fla. Stat. § 768.28 governs. Written notice has to be presented to the agency and, in most cases, also to the Department of Financial Services, within three years of the claim accruing and within two where somebody died. Suit cannot be filed until the agency has had its time to respond, which is six months in an ordinary case.
None of that is discretionary and none of it is waived for a sympathetic claim. It is the single reason to speak to somebody early after a public bus injury rather than waiting to see how the recovery goes.
A private operator, and the ordinary two years
A charter company, a tour operator, a hotel or airport shuttle or a private school's own service is an ordinary defendant. Most claims from an accident on or after March 24, 2023 have to be filed within two years. An older accident keeps the four years that applied when it happened. The period is in Fla. Stat. § 95.11, and a death claim runs two years from the date of death.
Days, for the recordings
Modern buses carry several cameras inside and facing out, and transit systems keep that footage on a loop measured in days rather than months. It is the best evidence in most of these cases, showing the road, the driver and the inside of the vehicle at once, and it is overwritten unless a written demand names the vehicle, the run and the time.
Months, for the driver and the vehicle records
Driver qualification and training files, hours worked, previous complaints about the same driver, maintenance and inspection history for that vehicle, and prior incidents on the same route. Where the operator runs interstate, federal retention schedules apply and some of those records may lawfully be destroyed within six months.
Who can be held answerable
Passengers, other drivers and people on foot are all hurt by buses, and who answers is decided by ownership and by who was actually at fault.
- The transit authority, city or county. The operator of most public bus services, and answerable for its driver and for its own decisions about training, supervision, scheduling and maintenance. Everything about the claim runs through Fla. Stat. § 768.28.
- A school board. School transport claims are against the district rather than the driver, with the same notice requirements and the same caps, and with an additional layer of records: routes, stop placement, supervision policies and prior complaints about the same route.
- A private charter, tour or shuttle operator. An ordinary company with ordinary insurance and no caps, which frequently makes the same injury worth far more. Establishing which kind of operator ran the bus is therefore the first question rather than a detail.
- The driver. Named where it matters, though the employer is the party with the coverage. On a public bus the driver's own history, training record and prior complaints are usually more useful as evidence than as a separate claim.
- Another driver who caused it. A large share of bus injuries happen because somebody else pulled across it or stopped in front of it, and the passengers are thrown. That is a claim against that driver, their employer and their insurer, and it is not capped.
- The manufacturer or the maintenance contractor. Brakes, doors, steps, wheelchair lifts and seating all appear in these cases. Maintenance is frequently contracted out, and the inspection and repair records are dated documents that exist whatever anybody says afterward.
- Whoever controlled the stop. A bus stop with no safe way to reach it, no lighting, or placed where passengers have to cross several lanes. That is a road authority or a property owner rather than the bus operator, and it is regularly the party whose decision actually caused the harm.
How a Florida bus accident case actually runs
The first two weeks decide these cases, because the evidence is held by the defendant and runs on the defendant's schedule.
- Identify the operator and the vehicle, precisely. The route, the run, the vehicle number and the time. A transit system cannot retrieve footage from a description of the bus, and a request that does not identify the vehicle produces nothing before the loop comes round.
- Demand the recordings in writing, immediately. Naming the cameras, the vehicle and a window starting well before the incident. Interior footage answers what a passenger was doing and how the bus was driven, and it disposes of most arguments about how somebody fell.
- Understand what a carrier owes its passengers. A company carrying passengers for hire is held to a high standard of care in Florida, above the ordinary duty a driver owes another driver. That difference matters most in the cases with no collision at all: somebody thrown by a sudden stop, a door closed on a passenger, a fall while boarding.
- Serve the presuit notice where a public body is involved. Fla. Stat. § 768.28 requires it before any suit, to the agency and in most cases to the Department of Financial Services, and then a waiting period. It goes out early rather than when the file is complete, because it starts a clock that nothing else starts.
- Get the driver and vehicle history. Training, qualification, hours, prior complaints, maintenance and inspection records, and prior incidents on the same route. Public bodies hold much of this as public record, which is frequently the fastest route to it.
- Treatment runs its course. Passengers are thrown without warning and without anything to brace against, which produces spinal and head injuries that take months to declare themselves. A claim valued early is valued as the cheap version of itself.
- Suit, discovery and mediation. Fla. Stat. § 47.011 puts the case where it happened or where the defendant is. Most Florida courts require mediation before trial, and Fla. Stat. § 768.79 lets either side serve a formal offer with fees running from a refusal the judgment beats by at least 25 percent. A capped claim against a public body settles on a different logic from an uncapped one, and the strategy differs accordingly.
What the claim is worth, and how that number is built
On a private operator these claims are valued like any serious injury case. Against a public body the statute decides the ceiling before the injury is even considered.
The cap, where the defendant is public
Fla. Stat. § 768.28 limits a public body to $200,000 for any one person and $300,000 for any one incident, whatever the harm. Anything above that requires the Legislature to pass a claim bill, which is rare and slow. On a serious injury that cap is frequently a small fraction of the loss.
It is a hard conversation and it belongs at the start rather than at the end, and it is one of the reasons finding a second, uncapped defendant matters so much in these cases.
The medical care, past and future
Everything billed and what the treating physicians say is still ahead. Where an injury is permanent, the future care is costed by a professional working from those physicians and brought to present value by an economist.
Income, and the capacity to earn it
Wages missed, and separately the work that is no longer possible. Many of the people we act for in these cases depend on the bus precisely because their margins are thin, which makes lost income the most immediate part of the harm.
Pain, suffering and mobility
The head of loss with no invoice. Where somebody relied on public transport and can no longer manage the steps, the loss extends well past the injury itself.
The fault split, and the line at 50 percent
Fault is divided under Fla. Stat. § 768.81 and a person found more than 50 percent responsible for their own harm recovers nothing. Against a bus operator the argument is nearly always that a passenger was standing, was not holding on, or moved before the vehicle stopped, and the interior footage is what answers it.
What is repaid out of the recovery
Health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid are repaid, with Fla. Stat. § 768.76 keeping those payments from being deducted from the award because the repayment right already exists. Against a capped defendant those reductions matter more than usual, because they come out of a fixed amount.
What changes from one part of Florida to another
Five different kinds of bus operate in Florida and they are governed by different rules. Telling them apart is the first piece of work on any of these claims.
County and city transit
The largest category by passenger numbers, run by public authorities, capped, and with good records we can frequently get as public record. Route and stop design decisions belong here too, and they are documented.
School transport
A school board defendant, the same caps, and a set of questions no other bus case raises: stop placement, crossing supervision, driver screening and what the district knew about a particular route or a particular child.
Interstate motorcoaches and tour buses
A private operator running between states falls under the federal safety rules that Fla. Stat. § 316.302 also adopts for Florida, covering hours of service, driver qualification, testing and maintenance. The records those rules generate are the same ones that decide truck cases, and they run on the same short retention schedules.
Hotel, airport and attraction shuttles
Florida runs an enormous number of these, and the passenger is usually a visitor who will be out of state within days. That is a reason to gather what exists locally while it exists rather than a barrier to the claim.
A proven record, anywhere in Florida
Our five offices run from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Myers, and a bus claim anywhere in the state is still our case. We have litigated in courts across Florida.
The insurance behind a Florida bus accident claim
The money behind a bus claim is either capped by statute or unusually large, with very little in between.
A public body pays under the cap, not under a policy
Fla. Stat. § 768.28 sets the limit at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, excludes punitive damages, and requires an act of the Legislature for anything more. Whatever coverage the agency carries behind that is largely beside the point for a claimant.
An interstate passenger carrier has to hold a great deal
Federal minimums for carrying passengers are far above the freight figures. Under 49 C.F.R. § 387.33 a for-hire passenger carrier operating in interstate commerce must hold $5 million where its largest vehicle seats 16 or more, and $1.5 million where it seats 15 or fewer. Most sizeable operators hold more than the floor.
Finding every layer
Fla. Stat. § 627.4137 requires the limits of each known policy, including excess and umbrella coverage, to be disclosed in a sworn statement within 30 days of a written request. Charter operations frequently involve a booking company, an operating company and a vehicle owner, each with its own tower.
Your own coverage, which people forget applies
Somebody hurt as a bus passenger may still have benefits under their own auto policy. Fla. Stat. § 627.736 follows the person rather than the vehicle, paying 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses and 60 percent of lost wages up to $10,000, provided a qualifying provider is seen within 14 days and, for the full amount, finds an emergency medical condition.
Where another driver caused the crash and carried too little, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy answers it under Fla. Stat. § 627.727. Against a capped public defendant that coverage is sometimes the largest source of recovery available.
Who operated the bus decides the whole claim
Public, school, or private
A public transit authority and a school district are government entities, with the notice requirements and liability limits that follow. A private charter or tour operator is an ordinary commercial defendant, and may also be a federally regulated motor carrier with the record-keeping obligations that brings.
Establishing which one you are dealing with is the first step, and it is not always obvious from the livery on the vehicle.
The evidence disappears quickly
Most transit and school buses carry multiple onboard cameras, and that footage is typically retained on a short cycle before being overwritten. Driver logs, maintenance records and the incident report follow similar retention schedules.
A written preservation demand in the first days is often the difference between a provable case and one that comes down to competing recollections.
Who would handle your case
Your case is handled by one of the trial lawyers below, and you will know which of them has it from the first conversation. They do bus accident work week in and week out, they will tell you what your case is worth and why, and they will be straight with you about the parts that are hard.
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Richard P. Pravato Founding & Managing Attorney Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by The Florida Bar since 2004, and by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Injury cases exclusively since 1996. Full profile → -
Brett J. Yonon Senior Trial Attorney Selected to Florida Super Lawyers in 2024 and 2025. Brett Yonon is who this firm puts on a catastrophic injury or a death in the family, and he has tried those cases to verdict. Full profile →
Bus Accident questions we are asked
Can I sue a public transit authority in Florida?
Yes, but not on the ordinary timetable. A written notice of claim has to be presented first, and no suit can be filed until the agency has answered it or run out of time to, which takes months on its own. Recovery is also capped by statute in a way it is not against a private defendant. Neither step can be skipped, so a late start can leave no room to complete them.
My child was hurt on a school bus. What should we do first?
Get medical attention and report it to the school and the district in writing. A school district is a government entity, so the notice requirements apply, and the buses almost always carry cameras whose footage is on a short retention cycle. Both of those argue for acting within days.
I was hurt on a private tour bus. Is that different?
Yes, and generally more straightforward. A private operator is an ordinary commercial defendant without the government notice requirements, and if it operates across state lines it is likely a federally regulated carrier with logging and maintenance records we can pursue.
Questions that apply to any Florida injury claim, fees, deadlines, recorded statements and shared fault, are answered on our injury claim FAQ. What we have recovered is on recent case results.
Five Florida offices
We take bus accident claims statewide. Each market below has its own page on this claim, with that office's address, its direct number and the court a case there is filed in.
Fort Lauderdale bus accident claims
2101 W Commercial Blvd, Fort Lauderdale. Serving Broward County.
View →Miami bus accident claims
1111 Brickell Avenue, Miami. Serving Miami-Dade County.
View →West Palm Beach bus accident claims
2101 Vista Parkway, West Palm Beach. Serving Palm Beach County.
View →Boynton Beach bus accident claims
1375 E Gateway Blvd, Boynton Beach. Serving Palm Beach County.
View →Fort Myers bus accident claims
1825 Colonial Blvd, Fort Myers. Serving Lee County.
View →Other claims we handle
Three of the closest to this one. The full list is on our Florida practice areas page.
Tell us what happened
A lawyer will listen, tell you what Florida law does with those facts, and be straight with you about whether it is worth bringing. If it is not, we will say so.
We take cases anywhere in Florida.