Bus Accident Lawyer in Sherman Oaks, CA

A bus crash in Sherman Oaks can start on Ventura Boulevard, on Van Nuys Boulevard, or on Sepulveda Boulevard near the US-101 and I-405 interchange. Metro lines 233, 761 and 240 use those three streets. When one of them hits you, or stops hard and throws you down the aisle, the claim works differently from an ordinary car crash. The bus owner is often a public agency, and its deadline is easy to miss without knowing it. If you need a bus accident lawyer in Sherman Oaks, Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. handles motor-vehicle injury cases only, and Moe works each case himself. You get a free review any hour, and you pay nothing unless we win. Below, you will see who you claim against, how fast the clock runs, and what we do first.

Which Metro lines run through Sherman Oaks, and why the bus owner matters

Most buses you see in Sherman Oaks belong to LA Metro. Metro's schedule index lists Line 233, which runs between West LA and Lakeview Terrace through Van Nuys Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard. Line 234 runs between Sherman Oaks and Sylmar on Sepulveda Boulevard. Line 761 covers West Los Angeles to Sylmar along San Fernando Boulevard, Van Nuys Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard. Line 158 links Chatsworth Station to Sherman Oaks along Devonshire Street and Woodman Avenue, and Line 240 runs between Northridge and Universal City on Reseda Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard. The owner of the bus decides who you claim against. A Metro bus means a public agency. A tour coach or charter means a private company with its own insurer. A school district bus is also a public entity. A private shuttle for a hotel or an employer is a different defendant again. We work out which one you face before we write a single letter, because the deadline, the forms and the insurance all change with the answer. Not sure? Give us the date, the street and the route sign you saw, and we will find the owner.

The six-month claim you must file before you can sue a public bus agency

If a public entity owns the bus, California law makes you file a written claim first. Government Code section 911.2 sets that deadline at six months from the crash for injury or death. That claim is not a lawsuit. The agency then has 45 days to act, and silence counts as a rejection under Government Code section 912.4. You cannot file suit until the claim is acted on or treated as rejected (Government Code section 945.4). After a written rejection, you usually have six months to file the lawsuit (Government Code section 945.6). If you miss the first deadline, you can ask to file a late claim, but the request must come within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the crash (Government Code section 911.4). Claims against the City of Los Angeles go to the Office of the City Clerk, which takes them through its online portal or by mail or hand delivery at City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Room 395. It does not take email or fax. Claims against LA County or LA Metro go to those agencies instead. Against a private bus company, the usual two-year limit under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 applies. We put every one of these dates on the calendar on day one.

What a bus carrier owes the people on board

A bus that carries passengers for a fare is a carrier of persons for reward. Civil Code section 2100 requires that carrier to use the highest care and diligence to get passengers there safely, and Civil Code section 2101 requires vehicles that are safe and fit for their use. Everyone who offers to carry the public is a common carrier under Civil Code section 2168. The California Supreme Court applied that same high duty of care to the Southern California Rapid Transit District, the agency that came before LA Metro, in Lopez v. Southern California Rapid Transit Dist. (1985) 40 Cal.3d 780. That bar sits well above the duty one driver owes another on the road. It applies on every Metro bus in Sherman Oaks, from Line 234 on Sepulveda Boulevard to Line 158 on Woodman Avenue. It matters in common bus injuries: a driver who brakes hard to make a light and drops a standing rider, a bus that pulls off before an older passenger sits, a door that closes on an arm, or brakes and equipment that were never properly maintained. You do not have to prove the driver was reckless. We look at how the driver drove, how the bus was kept, and whether the agency or company followed its own safety rules.

Bus video, driver records and the LAPD report

The agency controls much of the evidence in a bus case, and some of it gets erased on a schedule. If the bus had cameras, that video can be recorded over. We send a preservation demand to the operator early, naming the video, the driver's schedule and hours, dispatch and radio logs, maintenance and inspection files, incident reports and any GPS or speed data. For a crash that LAPD worked, the report starts with the Van Nuys Community Police Station at 6240 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, which serves Sherman Oaks and sends traffic matters to LAPD Valley Traffic Division. You can request a collision report through the link on the station's page, and we can order it for you. If your crash involved injury or more than $1,000 in damage, every driver involved, including you if you were driving, has 10 days to file an SR-1 report with the DMV under Vehicle Code section 16000. Witnesses matter too. Riders scatter after a bus crash. A name and phone number you grab at the scene can be worth more than a month of arguing later.

Riders, drivers and pedestrians hit by a bus

Not every Sherman Oaks bus injury happens inside the bus. You can be sideswiped as a driver when a bus swings wide at a turn on Ventura Boulevard, Van Nuys Boulevard or Sepulveda Boulevard. A pedestrian can be hit in a crosswalk on Van Nuys Boulevard. A cyclist can be squeezed against a curb. Each of these has its own fault question. The insurer for the bus owner will often blame the injured person, and California's pure comparative negligence rule lets it try: your award drops by your share of fault, but you can still recover (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). If you were seated, holding on, or in a priority seat, it is hard to call you careless, and we document that. When several riders are hurt in one crash, their claims compete for the same insurance, so acting early helps. Under Proposition 51, each defendant pays non-economic damages only in proportion to its own fault, which is why we name every party who contributed, including a second driver who cut the bus off.

Where Sherman Oaks bus crash victims get care

Bus injuries are often falls, whiplash, shoulder and knee damage, broken bones, and head injuries from striking a pole or seat. Sherman Oaks Hospital, at 4929 Van Nuys Blvd., has an emergency department and is a stroke center. We did not find a trauma designation for it. Encino Hospital Medical Center on Ventura Boulevard provides 24-hour emergency care. For the most serious injuries, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills is a Level II trauma center. Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center and Northridge Hospital Medical Center also run emergency rooms nearby. Go the same day, even if you only feel sore, and tell the doctor it was a bus crash. Medical records made close to the crash are your strongest proof that the bus caused the injury. If the case is filed in court, Van Nuys Courthouse East at 6230 Sylmar Ave. has a civil unlimited clerk's office. Check the court's Filing Court Locator before any filing, since venue depends on the facts.

How Moe handles a Sherman Oaks bus accident case

When you call, Moe picks up or calls you back himself, any hour. He asks for the date, the route, what the bus did and who saw it. In the first days he sends the preservation letters, orders the police report, and sets the government claim clock if a public agency is involved. He never asks you to talk to the bus company's adjuster, and he tells you to decline a recorded statement until he has the video. We work on contingency, so you owe no fee unless we recover money for you. The firm handles motor-vehicle injury cases only, including bus, car, pedestrian and drunk-driving crashes. It holds a 5.0 rating on Google. The work is the same on every file. We save the evidence, meet the deadlines, treat your injuries as the starting point, and keep you updated by call and text. Se habla Español. The review costs nothing.

Talk to a Sherman Oaks 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 →

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