Bus accident claims in Columbus follow three different rule sets. COTA and school buses involve Ohio’s political subdivision immunity law. Charter and private buses fall under federal carrier rules with far higher insurance. Michael D. Christensen Law Offices LLC handles all three. Call 614-300-5000 for a free consultation.
Here is something most people never learn until it matters: two identical bus crashes can produce completely different outcomes depending on whose name is painted on the side.
If a charter bus hits you, federal law generally required its operator to carry millions in coverage, ordinary negligence rules apply, and punitive damages are on the table. If a COTA bus or a school bus hits you, you are in a different legal world — one with governmental immunity, a hard cap on pain and suffering, and a rule that subtracts your own health insurance payments from whatever you recover.
Neither situation is hopeless. But they are not the same case, and handling them the same way costs people money. Attorney Mike Christensen represents injured people and grieving families throughout greater Columbus, on a contingency fee, with case expenses advanced by the firm.
Three Kinds of Bus Cases, Three Sets of Rules
Before anything else, one question has to be answered: who operated the bus? Everything downstream depends on it.
Public transit — COTA. A political subdivision under Ohio law. Immunity applies, with an important exception that makes these claims viable. Damage limitations apply, and they are significant.
School transportation. School districts are also political subdivisions and sit in the same framework. But many routes are run by private contractors who are not, which frequently improves the case.
Private charter, tour, shuttle, and intercity buses. Ordinary negligence law plus federal motor carrier regulation, and substantially higher required insurance.
The first thing to do after a bus crash, before anything else, is write down exactly what the bus said on the side and photograph it. That one detail determines which body of law governs your claim.
Bus Companies Owe Passengers More Than Ordinary Care
Ohio, like most states, recognizes that a common carrier transporting passengers for hire owes them a heightened duty — the highest degree of care consistent with the practical operation of the business, rather than the ordinary reasonable-care standard that governs everyday driving.
This matters in practice. Conduct that might be defensible for an ordinary motorist can breach a carrier’s duty to its passengers. It applies to how the vehicle is driven, how passengers board and exit, how the bus is maintained, and how the operator hires and supervises drivers.
The heightened standard generally runs to passengers. Other motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists are owed ordinary care — which is still substantial when the vehicle involved weighs fifteen tons.
COTA Bus Accidents and Ohio’s Immunity Law
COTA Is a Political Subdivision
The Central Ohio Transit Authority is a regional transit authority, and that makes it a political subdivision for purposes of Ohio’s tort liability statute at Chapter 2744 of the Revised Code. Section 2744.02 begins with a broad grant of immunity from liability for injury or loss caused by acts or omissions in connection with governmental or proprietary functions.
That opening is why people assume they cannot sue a transit agency. The assumption is wrong.
Two Routes Around the Immunity
The motor vehicle exception. The same statute provides that political subdivisions are liable for injury, death, or loss caused by the negligent operation of any motor vehicle by their employees when those employees are acting within the scope of their employment and authority. A bus driver operating a route is squarely within that exception. There are carve-outs for police, fire, and emergency medical vehicles responding to emergencies, which do not apply to transit service.
The proprietary function exception. Ohio’s definitional section at R.C. 2744.01 expressly lists the establishment, maintenance, and operation of a utility — including a busline or other transit company — as a proprietary function. Political subdivisions are liable for the negligent performance of acts by employees with respect to proprietary functions. That gives a transit claim a second, independent path that does not depend solely on the driving itself, and can reach maintenance, scheduling, hiring, and training decisions.
Defenses remain available under R.C. 2744.03, including immunity where an employee’s conduct involved policy-making, planning, or enforcement discretion. Immunity litigation in Ohio is procedurally distinctive — an order denying immunity is immediately appealable, which means these cases can involve an appeal before the merits are ever reached.
What Immunity Changes About Your Recovery
Even where liability is established, R.C. 2744.05 changes the arithmetic in three ways that people are rarely told about until late.
- No punitive damages. The statute states plainly that punitive or exemplary damages shall not be awarded against a political subdivision. However egregious the conduct, that category is off the table.
- Insurance and other benefits are deducted. If you receive, or are entitled to receive, benefits for your injuries from a policy of insurance or any other source, those benefits must be disclosed to the court and deducted from any award against the political subdivision. This is the opposite of the collateral source rule that applies in most injury cases. The statute also bars your insurer from bringing a subrogation action against the political subdivision — so you are not paying the lien back out of that portion, but you are not collecting it either.
- Noneconomic damages are capped at $250,000 per person. Compensatory damages representing actual loss — medical expenses, lost earnings, future care — are not capped. But damages arising from the same occurrence that do not represent actual loss are limited to $250,000 in favor of any one person. Wrongful death actions brought under Chapter 2125 are excepted from this limit.
One more detail that matters enormously. Ohio’s general noneconomic damage cap for tort actions contains an exception for the most catastrophic injuries — permanent deformity, loss of a limb or organ system, injuries preventing independent self-care. The political subdivision cap contains no equivalent exception. A catastrophically injured transit passenger is therefore treated differently than a catastrophically injured car crash victim, and this is one of the strongest reasons to identify every non-immune defendant in the case.
The Deadline
Under R.C. 2744.04, an action against a political subdivision for injury, death, or loss must generally be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues, or within any applicable shorter period provided elsewhere in the Revised Code. The period is tolled under Ohio’s disability tolling statute, which matters for injured children.
Talk to a Columbus Bus Accident Attorney Today
Call 614-300-5000 or 866-866-8058. Consultations are free and available 24/7. You pay no legal fee unless we win, and we advance case expenses.
You can also contact our Columbus office or request a free case evaluation online. Hablo Español.
School Bus Accidents
Who You Are Actually Suing
School districts are political subdivisions, so the framework above applies to district-operated transportation — immunity, the motor vehicle exception, and the damage limitations.
But a large share of school transportation in central Ohio is operated by private contractors, and contractors are not political subdivisions. A contractor-operated route means an ordinary negligence claim against a private company with commercial insurance, no $250,000 noneconomic cap, no collateral source deduction, and punitive damages available where the conduct warrants them.
The difference is enormous, and it is invisible from the outside. Determining who actually employed the driver and owned the bus is the first task in any school bus case.
The Danger Zone: Loading and Unloading
Most school bus fatalities do not happen inside the bus. They happen in the area immediately around it — the zone where a child is crossing, waiting, or walking alongside and can be outside the driver’s field of view.
Claims arising in that zone can run in several directions at once:
- The passing motorist. Illegally passing a stopped school bus with its warning lights and stop arm deployed. This driver is frequently the primary defendant and carries ordinary auto coverage.
- The bus driver. For failing to activate warning lights and the stop arm at the proper distance, pulling away before a child cleared the danger zone, failing to account for a child crossing in front, or signaling a child forward unsafely.
- The district or contractor. For stop placement on a road with poor sightlines or high speeds, route design requiring children to cross multiple lanes, inadequate driver training, or ignoring prior complaints about a particular stop.
- Mirror and camera systems. Where required equipment was missing, damaged, or misadjusted, or where a crossing gate failed.
If your child was hurt at a bus stop, photograph the stop location, sightlines, and speed limit as soon as you can, and note the time of day and lighting. Those conditions change with the seasons and are hard to reconstruct months later.
Ohio’s Pupil Transportation Rules
Ohio regulates school transportation in detail through the Administrative Code. Rule 3301-83-19 addresses which vehicles are authorized to transport pupils, requiring that vehicles designed to carry more than twelve passengers meet or exceed applicable federal regulations and Ohio school bus construction standards, and setting requirements for alternative vehicles used in student transportation, including inspection frequency and daily pre-trip inspections.
The broader chapter covers driver qualification and training, vehicle inspection, and operational requirements. A documented violation of a specific rule is meaningful evidence, and the records the rules require districts and contractors to keep are exactly the records a claim needs.
Seat Belts and Compartmentalization
Large school buses are engineered around compartmentalization rather than seat belts — closely spaced, high-backed, energy-absorbing seats intended to contain occupants in a frontal collision. Ohio does not generally require lap belts on large school buses. The absence of belts is therefore usually not the claim by itself. But seat spacing, seat back performance, rollover and side-impact behavior, and emergency egress can support a product liability claim against the bus manufacturer, and compartmentalization protects far less in a rollover or a side impact than in a frontal one.
Claims by Children and the Tolling Rule
Parents frequently assume that a deadline passed while they were focused on their child’s recovery. Ohio’s limitations period for claims against political subdivisions is tolled under the disability tolling statute, which addresses minority. That does not mean waiting is safe — evidence disappears on its own schedule, and a parent’s own derivative claims may run differently — but it does mean a case you assumed was gone may not be.
Charter, Tour, and Private Bus Accidents
The Insurance Is Substantially Higher
Federal financial responsibility rules for passenger carriers are set out in 49 CFR 387.33. For for-hire motor carriers of passengers operating in interstate or foreign commerce, the minimum levels are generally $5,000,000 where the largest vehicle has a seating capacity of 16 passengers or more including the driver, and $1,500,000 where it seats 15 or fewer.
FMCSA’s published guidance on applicability of the safety and financial responsibility rules to passenger carriers walks through how these thresholds apply to real operations, including hotel shuttles, tour operators, and vehicles that seem too small to be regulated. Whether a particular shuttle or van falls inside these rules is a genuine question worth answering rather than assuming.
One exception is worth knowing about, because it explains a great deal. The financial responsibility subpart expressly does not apply to a motor vehicle transporting only school children and teachers to or from school. That is precisely why school bus claims run through Ohio’s immunity framework rather than through these federal minimums — and why the money available in a school bus case can look nothing like the money available in a charter bus case.
The Federal Rules That Apply
- Driver qualification and licensing. A commercial driver’s license with a passenger endorsement, medical certification, and a driver qualification file.
- Hours of service. Passenger-carrying drivers operate under their own limits, which differ from the property-carrying rules. FMCSA publishes the current hours of service requirements, and electronic records can be compared against dispatch and trip documentation.
- Drug and alcohol testing. Pre-employment, random, post-accident, and reasonable suspicion programs.
- Inspection, repair, and maintenance. Under 49 CFR 396.3, carriers must systematically inspect, repair, and maintain their vehicles and keep records — including daily driver vehicle inspection reports.
- Operating authority and safety ratings. A carrier’s registration status, safety rating, and inspection history are public and frequently reveal a pattern.
Who Can Be Sued in a Charter Case
- The bus company and its driver
- The company or organization that chartered the trip, where it directed the schedule or route
- A tour operator or travel company that selected the carrier
- A broker that arranged transportation with a carrier having a poor safety record
- A maintenance contractor
- The bus or component manufacturer
- Another motorist whose driving contributed
Other Bus and Shuttle Cases We Handle
- Airport and hotel shuttles. Operated by private companies, hotels, or parking facilities, often with vehicles right at the 15-versus-16-seat threshold that determines coverage.
- Campus and university shuttles. Which may be operated by a public institution or a private contractor, with different consequences.
- Paratransit and medical transport. Including COTA’s paratransit service and private non-emergency medical transportation, where passengers are frequently elderly or disabled and wheelchair securement failures are a recurring issue.
- Daycare, camp, and church vans. Often 15-passenger vans, which have well-documented handling and rollover characteristics when heavily loaded.
- Employer and casino shuttles. Where the employment relationship can raise workers’ compensation questions alongside the injury claim.
- Intercity and megabus-style carriers. Long-distance operations with fatigue and scheduling issues.
- Party buses and limousine coaches. Where alcohol service, standing passengers, and modified vehicles create distinct hazards.
Paratransit, Wheelchair Securement, and Medical Transport
Passengers who use paratransit and non-emergency medical transportation are among the most vulnerable people on any vehicle, and their injuries are among the most frequently written off as unavoidable. They are usually not.
Securement Failures
A wheelchair or scooter that is not properly secured becomes a moving object the instant the vehicle accelerates, brakes, or turns. Recurring failures include tie-downs attached to the wrong points on the chair, only two of four straps used, occupant belts omitted because the chair was secured, worn or damaged webbing left in service, and drivers never trained on the specific chair type in front of them.
Lift and Ramp Incidents
Falls from a lift platform without a proper barrier, lifts that drop or stall mid-cycle, ramps deployed onto uneven ground or a snowbank, and passengers left unattended during the cycle. Lift maintenance records and manufacturer service bulletins are central evidence in these cases.
Assistance and Handoff Failures
Many paratransit and medical transport passengers cannot safely be left at a curb. Where a service agreed to door-to-door or hand-to-hand assistance and delivered curb-to-curb instead, the resulting fall is a claim. The service agreement, the trip manifest, and the passenger’s documented mobility level all matter.
Because these services are frequently provided by private contractors under agreement with a public agency, the immunity analysis often turns out better than the passenger expects. Identify the actual operator before assuming anything.
When Many Passengers Are Hurt at Once
A bus crash can injure thirty people simultaneously. That produces a practical problem worth understanding early.
Coverage may be shared. Even the elevated federal minimums for charter carriers are limits, not blank checks. When claims from one crash exceed available coverage, injured passengers are effectively drawing on the same pool. Carriers sometimes move quickly to resolve claims broadly at modest values that look reasonable in isolation and are not.
Against a public entity, the arithmetic is tighter still. The statutory limitations apply per person, and the agency’s exposure is finite. This is another reason to identify any non-immune defendant — a contractor, a manufacturer, another motorist — whose coverage is separate.
Being early matters more than usual. Onboard video, passenger lists, and the medical documentation connecting your specific injuries to the crash are all easier to secure in the first weeks. So is a place in line.
What Suing a Public Entity Actually Looks Like
Claims against COTA or a school district move differently than an ordinary injury case, and knowing the shape of it in advance prevents unpleasant surprises.
- Immunity is litigated first. The defense will move for judgment on immunity grounds early, and the analysis proceeds in tiers: general immunity, whether an exception applies, and whether a defense restores immunity.
- An immunity ruling can be appealed immediately. Ohio treats an order denying a political subdivision the benefit of immunity as a final appealable order. That means a case can go up on appeal before anyone has litigated whether the driver was actually negligent, and it can add substantial time.
- Public records law can help you. Public agencies are subject to records requirements that private defendants are not. Incident reports, maintenance records, training materials, and prior complaints can sometimes be obtained through a records request rather than fought over in discovery.
- Individual employees have their own immunity. Employees of political subdivisions are generally immune unless their acts were outside the scope of employment, malicious, in bad faith, or wanton or reckless. Naming a driver individually is a strategic decision, not automatic.
- Judgments are collected differently. Ohio has specific provisions governing how judgments against political subdivisions are satisfied.
None of this makes these cases unwinnable. It makes them cases that reward being handled by someone who knew the framework on day one rather than discovering it in month eight.
How Bus Accidents Happen
Driver Factors
- Fatigue and schedule pressure, particularly on charter and intercity routes
- Distraction, including onboard systems, fare disputes, and passenger management
- Failure to check mirrors and blind spots before turning or pulling from a stop
- Excessive speed for conditions, especially on curves and ramps with a high center of gravity
- Pulling away before a passenger is seated or has cleared the vehicle
- Aggressive braking and acceleration with standing passengers aboard
- Inadequate training or insufficient experience in the specific vehicle
- Impairment or untreated medical conditions
Vehicle and Maintenance Factors
- Brake failures and out-of-adjustment brakes
- Tire failures, including aged or underinflated tires
- Door and step mechanism failures causing falls during boarding
- Wheelchair lift and securement system failures
- Mirror, camera, and crossing gate defects
- Worn flooring, missing handholds, and damaged stanchions
- Steering and suspension failures
Operational and Route Factors
- Stop placement in unsafe locations or with obstructed sightlines
- Route design forcing children or passengers to cross high-speed roads
- Overcrowding and standing loads beyond what conditions allow
- Inadequate hiring, background screening, and supervision
- Ignored complaints about a specific driver, stop, or vehicle
- Failure to adjust operations for snow, ice, or flooding
Other Motorists
Many bus crashes are caused by someone else entirely — a driver who illegally passed a stopped school bus, cut off a bus, or turned across its path. Those claims proceed as ordinary car accident matters against that driver’s insurance, and can run alongside a claim against the bus operator.
Who Gets Hurt in Bus Accidents
Passengers
Transit passengers are frequently standing, unbelted, and facing sideways. A collision or hard stop that a belted car occupant would absorb easily throws a standing passenger into a stanchion, a farebox, a window, or the floor. Elderly passengers and those using mobility devices are especially vulnerable.
Boarding and Alighting
Falls while getting on or off a bus are among the most common transit injuries — caused by door malfunctions, step and gap conditions, wet or icy surfaces, a bus stopped too far from the curb, or the bus moving before a passenger is clear. Depending on the facts these can raise premises liability issues at the stop itself as well as carrier negligence.
People in Other Vehicles
A transit bus can weigh well over fifteen tons empty. In a collision with a passenger car, the size and weight disparity produces the same kind of outcome seen in car versus truck collisions, and our Columbus truck accident practice covers many of the same commercial vehicle issues.
Pedestrians and Cyclists
Buses have substantial blind spots, particularly to the right front, and pedestrian and cyclist strikes cluster around right turns, crosswalks near stops, and passengers crossing in front of a bus they just exited. Motorcyclists face similar visibility problems around large buses.
Children Outside School Buses
Addressed above, and the single most serious category in school transportation.
Bus Drivers and Transit Employees
Drivers, mechanics, and transit employees injured on the job generally have an Ohio workers’ compensation claim, and may also have a third-party case against another motorist, a maintenance contractor, or a manufacturer. Our workers’ compensation and workplace injury pages explain how those fit together.
Common Bus Accident Injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries from impacts with fixed interior surfaces
- Spinal cord injuries and vertebral fractures
- Hip and pelvic fractures, particularly in older passengers
- Wrist, shoulder, and arm fractures from bracing during a fall
- Facial and dental injuries
- Crush injuries in pedestrian and undercarriage incidents
- Soft tissue and disc injuries from abrupt deceleration
- Catastrophic injuries requiring lifetime care
- Post-traumatic stress, common in children after a school bus incident and routinely underclaimed
Evidence in a Bus Accident Case
Buses generate more usable evidence than almost any other vehicle — and much of it is overwritten quickly.
- Onboard video. Most transit buses and many school and charter buses run multiple interior and exterior cameras. Retention windows are frequently measured in days, and this is the single most valuable category of evidence in these cases.
- Electronic vehicle data. Speed, braking, door operation, and stop-arm deployment.
- GPS and automatic vehicle location data. Establishing position, timing, and schedule adherence.
- Driver qualification and training records. Licensing, endorsements, medical certification, training history, and prior discipline or complaints.
- Maintenance and inspection files. Including daily inspection reports and any deferred repairs.
- Dispatch, radio, and incident reports. Contemporaneous accounts before positions harden.
- Route, run, and stop documentation. Particularly in school bus cases involving stop placement.
- Passenger manifests and witness lists. Transit and charter operators often have them; other passengers are frequently the best witnesses.
- Prior incident history. At the same stop, on the same route, or involving the same driver or vehicle.
- Public records. Public agencies are subject to records laws, which can be a productive route to material that a private defendant would fight over.
A preservation letter sent early puts the operator on notice that video and electronic data must be retained. In bus cases this is genuinely urgent, because retention schedules do not pause while an injured person recovers.
Who Can Be Held Liable
- The bus driver. Subject to individual immunity provisions where the driver is a public employee.
- The transit agency or school district. Within the exceptions to governmental immunity.
- A private operator or contractor. Not protected by governmental immunity, and usually the more valuable defendant when one exists.
- A maintenance contractor. For negligent repair or inspection.
- The bus or component manufacturer. For defective brakes, doors, lifts, seats, or restraint systems.
- Another motorist. Including drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses.
- A charterer, tour operator, or broker. Where selection or scheduling contributed.
- A property owner. For hazardous conditions at a stop, shelter, or loading area.
Our page on identifying every responsible party covers this analysis in a broader context. In bus cases the exercise is unusually valuable, because finding one non-immune defendant can transform what is recoverable.
The Deadlines
Claims against a political subdivision: generally two years from accrual under R.C. 2744.04, or a shorter period where one applies elsewhere in the Revised Code, with tolling for minors and certain disabilities.
Claims against private parties: generally two years for bodily injury under R.C. 2305.10, and two years from the date of death for a wrongful death action under R.C. 2125.02.
Do not rely on either figure without confirming it for your situation. Shorter notice requirements can apply to some public entities, and multiple defendants in the same crash can carry different deadlines.
Compensation in a Columbus Bus Accident Case
Our page on accident compensation covers these categories in more detail.
- Emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation
- Future medical care, assistive equipment, and home modification
- Attendant care and long-term nursing costs
- Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
- Pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement and permanent disability
- Emotional distress, including post-traumatic stress
- Loss of consortium for a spouse
- Punitive damages against private defendants where conduct showed conscious disregard for safety — never against a political subdivision
Against private defendants, Ohio does not cap economic damages, and noneconomic damages are limited under R.C. 2315.18 with an exception for the most catastrophic injuries. Against a political subdivision, the separate limitations described above apply instead — including a $250,000 cap with no catastrophic-injury exception.
Comparative fault under R.C. 2315.33 reduces recovery by your share and bars it only if you were more than 50 percent responsible. Expect arguments that a passenger failed to hold a handhold, that a pedestrian crossed outside a crosswalk, or that a child darted out.
If Your Family Lost Someone in a Bus Crash
In Ohio, a wrongful death claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents, with other next of kin also able to recover. Compensable losses include lost financial support, lost services, funeral and burial expenses, and the family’s loss of society, companionship, care, and guidance. Our Columbus wrongful death attorney page explains how an estate is opened and who has authority to bring the claim.
One point deserves emphasis here. The $250,000 political subdivision cap on damages that do not represent actual loss expressly does not apply to wrongful death actions. In a fatal case involving a public bus, that exception meaningfully changes what is recoverable, and it is a reason to have the case evaluated rather than assuming immunity forecloses everything.
How a Bus Accident Case Gets Built
- Free consultation. Who operated the bus, where it happened, what you remember, and what has already been said to you. The first question drives everything else.
- Immediate preservation. Letters demanding retention of onboard video, electronic data, and records go out to the operator, any contractor, and any other party.
- Identify the operator and the employment structure. District versus contractor, agency versus vendor, charterer versus carrier.
- Immunity analysis. Whether a political subdivision is involved, which exception applies, what defenses are likely, and which damage limitations govern.
- Public records requests. Where a public entity is involved, records laws can produce material efficiently.
- Scene and route investigation. Sightlines, stop placement, signage, and conditions at the same time of day.
- Medical and damages workup. Treating physicians and, where warranted, life care planners and economists.
- Coverage investigation. Every policy across every defendant, including a contractor’s and a manufacturer’s.
- Demand and negotiation. Once damages are documented and liability is developed.
- Litigation if necessary. Suit filed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas or appropriate venue. Our page on filing a lawsuit explains that process, including the possibility of an immunity appeal before the merits.
What to Do After a Columbus Bus Accident
- Get medical attention and report the injury. Even if you walked away. Many bus injuries present hours later.
- Photograph the bus, including the name on the side. This single detail determines which body of law applies to your claim.
- Record the bus number and route or run number. Usually posted inside and outside. It is how video and data get located.
- Report the incident to the operator and get a report number. Transit agencies and districts generate internal reports; ask for the number.
- Make sure police respond if there was a collision. An official report establishes the baseline record.
- Get names and phone numbers of other passengers. They scatter within minutes and are often the best witnesses.
- Photograph the scene and conditions. Stop location, curb and gap, ice or water, lighting, and sightlines.
- Ask in writing that video be preserved. Same day if possible. Note who you sent it to and when.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the operator’s claims department. Public agencies and private carriers both have them, and both are gathering material for a defense.
- Do not sign a release or accept an early payment. Especially where a child is involved.
- Call an attorney quickly. Video retention is measured in days, not months.
What It Costs to Hire Us
Nothing up front. Bus accident cases are handled on a contingency fee, meaning the fee comes out of what is recovered. There is no hourly billing, no retainer, and no fee if there is no recovery. Case expenses are advanced by the firm.
The consultation is free and is a real evaluation. If immunity and the statutory damage limitations mean a claim is not worth pursuing, we will tell you that rather than take the case and disappoint you later.
Why Choose Michael D. Christensen Law Offices
Attorney Mike Christensen represents injured people and grieving families throughout greater Columbus. Bus cases reward attorneys who identify the operator immediately, preserve video before it is gone, and understand how Ohio’s immunity statute reshapes a claim.
- Local and reachable. Our office is at 3341 W. Broad Street in Columbus, serving Franklin County and the surrounding counties.
- Immunity analysis done first. Not discovered halfway through the case.
- Fast video preservation. Because retention windows are short and there is no second chance.
- Every non-immune defendant pursued. Contractors, manufacturers, other motorists, and property owners.
- Children’s cases handled with care. Including tolling, guardianship, and structured settlement considerations.
- Expenses advanced. No upfront cost to you.
- Hablo Español. Spanish-language assistance is available.
- Available 24/7. No fee unless you win.
Free Consultation With a Columbus Bus Accident Lawyer
If you or your child was hurt in a bus accident, call 614-300-5000 now. Write down the name on the side of the bus and the bus number. Onboard video may be erased within days. The consultation is free, the call is confidential, and you owe no fee unless we recover for you.
Columbus Bus Accident Claims & Lawyer FAQs
Can I Sue COTA After a Bus Accident?
Yes. Ohio grants political subdivisions broad immunity, but the statute contains an express exception making them liable for the negligent operation of a motor vehicle by employees acting within the scope of employment. Operating a transit line is also treated as a proprietary function, which provides a second route to liability.
Is a COTA Claim Different From an Ordinary Car Accident Claim?
Very. Three rules change your recovery: punitive damages are not available against a political subdivision, insurance and other benefits you receive are deducted from any award, and damages that do not represent actual loss are capped at $250,000 per person. Wrongful death claims are excepted from that cap.
How Long Do I Have to Sue COTA or a School District?
Generally two years from the date the claim accrues, under the political subdivision statute of limitations. Shorter periods can apply in some circumstances, and the period is tolled for minors and certain disabilities. Because immunity litigation is procedurally complex, these claims should be evaluated early.
Can I Sue a School District if My Child Was Hurt on a School Bus?
Often yes. School districts are political subdivisions, and the same motor vehicle exception that applies to transit applies to school transportation. If a private contractor operates the route, that company is a separate defendant not protected by governmental immunity, which usually improves the available recovery.
What if My Child Was Hit Getting on or Off the Bus?
These are among the most serious school bus cases. Claims can run against the motorist who illegally passed the stopped bus, the driver for improper stop placement or failure to use warning devices, and the district or contractor for route design and training. All should be investigated together.
How Much Insurance Does a Charter or Tour Bus Carry?
Far more than most vehicles. Federal rules generally require for-hire interstate passenger carriers to maintain $5,000,000 in coverage if the largest vehicle seats 16 or more including the driver, and $1,500,000 if it seats 15 or fewer. Coverage is usually not the limiting factor in these cases.
Do I Have a Claim if I Was Standing and the Bus Braked or Turned Hard?
Possibly. Common carriers owe passengers a high degree of care, and standing passengers are foreseeable on transit buses. Whether an abrupt stop was negligent depends on why it happened. Not every jolt supports a claim, but a fall causing real injury is worth having evaluated.
What if a Bus Hit My Car Rather Than Me Being a Passenger?
You have the same claim a passenger would, subject to the same rules about who operated the bus. If it was a COTA or school bus, the political subdivision framework applies, including the damage limitations. If it was a private charter or shuttle, ordinary negligence rules and much higher insurance apply.
Why Don't School Buses Have Seat Belts, and Does That Hurt My Case?
Large school buses are designed around compartmentalization — closely spaced, high-backed padded seats — rather than belts, and Ohio does not generally require lap belts on them. The absence of belts is usually not itself the claim, but seat design, spacing, and rollover performance can support a product claim.
Can I Still Recover if My Health Insurance Already Paid My Bills?
It depends on who you are suing. Against a political subdivision like COTA or a school district, benefits you received or are entitled to receive are deducted from your award, though your insurer also cannot pursue subrogation against the subdivision. Against a private bus company, ordinary rules apply.
Can I Get Punitive Damages Against a Public Bus Operator?
No. Ohio law expressly bars punitive or exemplary damages against a political subdivision. This applies to COTA and to school districts. Punitive damages may still be available against a private charter operator, a contractor, or a component manufacturer, which is one reason identifying every defendant matters.
What if I Was a Pedestrian or Cyclist Hit by a Bus?
You may have a strong claim. Buses have significant blind spots, and pedestrian and cyclist strikes frequently occur during right turns, at stops, and in crosswalks. The applicable rules depend on whether the operator was a public entity or a private company, so identifying the operator is the first step.
What Evidence Matters Most in a Bus Accident Case?
Onboard video, which most transit and many school and charter buses record; the vehicle’s electronic data; driver qualification, training, and discipline records; maintenance and inspection files; dispatch and radio logs; passenger and witness lists; and route or run documentation. Video retention windows are often measured in days.
How Much is a Columbus Bus Accident Case Worth?
It depends heavily on who operated the bus. Claims against private charter operators are limited mainly by injury severity, with substantial coverage available. Claims against COTA or a school district are shaped by the statutory damage limitations, which can significantly affect noneconomic recovery for a seriously injured adult.
What if a Family Member Was Killed in a Bus Crash?
The estate’s personal representative can bring a wrongful death claim for the benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents. Notably, Ohio’s $250,000 political subdivision cap on damages that do not represent actual loss does not apply to wrongful death actions, which meaningfully changes these cases.
How Much Does a Columbus Bus Accident Attorney Cost?
Michael D. Christensen Law Offices handles bus accident cases on a contingency fee. There is no upfront cost, no hourly billing, and no fee unless we recover for you. Case expenses are advanced by the firm, and the consultation is free and creates no obligation.
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Written by Mike Christensen. Read more about the author. A lot of people walk away from truck accidents convinced they have no case. Maybe they
A semi-truck collision rarely has a simple answer to the question of fault. A car accident might point to one at-fault driver. A truck accident
If a truck driver hit you on I-70, I-270, or anywhere else in Columbus, your first instinct might be to go after the driver. That
Written by Mike Christensen. Read more about the author. A commercial truck blowing through a red light and slamming into your vehicle is one of
When a massive commercial truck collides with a passenger vehicle on Columbus’s busy highways like I-70 or I-71, the consequences can be devastating. The sheer