Bus Accident Lawyer in Pasadena, CA

A bus crash in Pasadena is not a normal car case, and it does not play out like one. The bus might belong to the city's own Pasadena Transit service, a contractor, a private charter company, or another transit agency passing through. Each has its own insurance, its own paperwork, and its own clock. If a public agency is involved, you may have only six months to file a written claim. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. handles bus accident cases for riders, drivers of other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists hurt around Pasadena. Attorney Moe Abdallah answers your call himself, any hour, and fast-tracks preservation letters for bus video and driver records. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win. Below, you will see which agencies matter here, which Pasadena streets deserve a closer look, what a bus owes its passengers, and what to do in your first days.

Which bus hit you decides whose claim it is

You first need to know who owned the bus, who employed the driver, and who insured both. In Pasadena, the answers change from bus to bus. Pasadena Transit is the city's bus service, and Transdev runs its day-to-day operations under contract. So a claim may name the city, the contractor, or both, and we do not guess which. We take the bus number, route, and time from your ticket, your phone, or a witness, then trace ownership. Other buses also cross town: charter coaches, tour buses, school buses, and shuttles tied to hotels, colleges, and employers. Each has its own insurer. A private carrier follows the two-year lawsuit deadline in Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. A public entity follows the Government Code claim process, which starts with a written claim inside six months. One wrong guess can cost you the right to sue, so we treat both deadlines as live until the owner is confirmed. Do not wait for an adjuster to tell you who to blame. Write down the route number, the bus number painted on the back or side, the plate, and the time, and send us photos. That record can save you weeks.

Pasadena Transit, Transdev, and the Metro A Line

Pasadena Transit runs 11 lines, and each one connects with at least one Metro A Line light rail station. The A Line has six stations in Pasadena: Fillmore, Del Mar, Memorial Park, Lake, Allen, and Sierra Madre Villa. That design sends a lot of riders on foot between a train platform and a bus stop, across busy streets. Maybe the driver braked hard or pulled away while you stood. Maybe you got hurt stepping off at a stop. Maybe a bus hit your car, or struck you in a crosswalk near a stop. Each of those is a bus accident claim, and each can have different defendants. If you were riding a Metro line instead, the agency is LA Metro, a public entity with its own claim process. If a contractor employed the driver, that company may share fault with the agency. Fault can also reach a maintenance vendor when a door, lift, or brake fails. We sort out those layers from the records. Then we send letters to every possible party at once, so nobody can say they never got told to save evidence.

Lake Avenue, Colorado Boulevard, and where riders get hurt

Pasadena's own safety analysis of 2020 to 2024 collisions found that 13% of city roads account for 80% of fatal and serious-injury collisions. The corridors named include Lake Avenue, Washington Boulevard, Orange Grove Boulevard, and Colorado Boulevard, and the city's priority safety projects also include Sunset Avenue, East Colorado Boulevard, and Allen Avenue. Pasadena Transit routes run on Colorado Boulevard, Lake Avenue, Washington Boulevard, and Orange Grove Boulevard, so buses stop, pull out, and turn on the very streets the city flags. We do not claim a bus caused those numbers. We do use them to examine how a driver handled a stop on a corridor the city itself flags as high risk. State rankings for 2023 also placed Pasadena 5th of 62 comparable cities for pedestrian victims and 1st for pedestrian victims aged 65 and older. Under Vehicle Code section 21950, a bus driver turning through a crosswalk near Old Pasadena or along Lake Avenue must yield to anyone crossing in it. If the I-210 or SR-134 was involved, the crash is a freeway crash handled by the CHP. Either way, we start by mapping where the bus was, how fast it moved, and what it did in the seconds before impact.

The higher duty a bus carrier owes its passengers

Anyone who offers to carry the public is a common carrier under Civil Code section 2168. Under Civil Code section 2100, a carrier of persons for reward must use the highest degree of care and diligence, supply everything needed for safe travel, and use a reasonable degree of skill. Civil Code section 2101 adds a duty to supply vehicles that are safe and fit for their use, and no amount of care excuses an unsafe vehicle. The California Supreme Court applied that high duty of care to a public bus operator in Lopez v. Southern California Rapid Transit District (1985) 40 Cal.3d 780. A bus that lurches, a door that closes on a rider, a lift that fails, or a driver who ignores a hazard can all breach that higher duty. That duty covers passengers. If the bus hit you from outside, you prove your case under the usual negligence rules. Insurers will still say you were standing, not holding on, or looking at your phone. California follows pure comparative negligence under Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804, so partial blame trims your recovery by your percentage. It does not erase it.

The six-month government claim and what happens next

If the bus belongs to a public entity, Government Code section 911.2 requires you to present a written claim within six months of the crash. The claim must give your name and address, the date, place, and circumstances, a description of your injuries, and the names of any employees involved if you know them. When your damages exceed $10,000, the claim does not state a dollar amount. The agency has 45 days to act, and silence counts as a rejection under Government Code section 912.4. After a written rejection, you generally have six months to file suit under section 945.6. If no written notice ever arrives, the limit is two years from the crash. For City of Pasadena matters, the City Attorney's Liability and Claims office handles claims, and we confirm the current filing method with the city before we send anything. If you miss the first deadline, a late-claim application under section 911.4 must be filed within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the crash. Courts do not always grant it, so do not count on it. Call us in the first weeks. The claim goes out complete, and our file holds proof of delivery.

Bus video, driver records, and the Pasadena police report

Buses record more than most people expect. Many carry cameras that can capture the street ahead, the cabin, and the doors, and some log speed, braking, and location. Agencies and contractors can overwrite that footage on a schedule. So we send a written preservation demand right away, covering video, GPS and dispatch logs, driver schedules, training and discipline files, phone records for the minutes around the crash, and maintenance history for the bus. The police report matters too. The Pasadena Police Department takes collision reports for crashes on city streets, and you request a copy through the department's public records page. Crashes on the I-210, SR-134, and SR-110 are normally handled by the CHP. Look for the bus number, the driver's statement, and any witness names, and tell us about mistakes. A driver in a crash with any injury or more than $1,000 in damage must also file the DMV SR-1 within 10 days under Vehicle Code section 16000. Get names and numbers from other passengers before they leave the stop. Passengers scatter fast, and a stranger's account is often the strongest proof that the bus moved first.

Huntington Hospital, the courthouse, and how Moe runs your case

Huntington Hospital in Pasadena says it is home to the only Level II trauma center in the San Gabriel Valley, so serious bus injuries often start there. Bus crashes tend to cause neck and back injuries, broken wrists and ankles from bracing, head injuries from falls inside the cabin, and fractures when a rider is thrown or struck. Get checked even if you feel fine, tell every provider how the crash happened, and keep each record. A transit agency's adjuster will go straight for any gap in treatment. If your case reaches court, the Pasadena Courthouse at 300 East Walnut Street is the local LA Superior Court location, though the court's page does not say which civil cases are filed there, so we check the filing locator before we sue. Moe handles the case himself, updates you by call and text, and moves fast on the evidence. Past results do not predict a similar outcome in your case, but Moe recovered $75,000 total in a case where the at-fault insurer first offered $900. You pay nothing unless we win, and Se Habla Español.

Talk to a Pasadena bus accident lawyer

Call (323) 716-1992 for a free, no-obligation case review. You pay nothing unless we win, and we'll handle the insurance companies for you. Learn more about our bus accidents representation →

Frequently Asked Questions

Other cases we handle in Pasadena

See everything we handle in Pasadena →

Bus Accident lawyers in other cities we serve