Muskingum County Ohio Bus Accident Lawyer | Car collides with school bus, ten people injured

City: Zanesville, Ohio

County: Muskingum County, Ohio

Date: September 20, 2010



Type: Car / Bus Accident



Ten people, including nine students, were injured when a car collided with a school bus September 20. According to the Ohio Highway State Patrol, a man hit a loaded Tri-Valley Local School bus head-on while traveling State Route 146. Seven of the nine students suffered minor injuries and the two others suffered serious injuries (not life threatening). The driver of the car suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to a Columbus-area hospital.

While who was at fault for this accident may not have been determined yet by a court of law, the accident brings to mind several legal issues that arise in a similar type accident that we see routinely in our Ohio personal injury law practice.

If, hypothetically, the driver of the car were to be at fault, all the bus passengers would have claims against him. His auto insurance may be insufficient to pay all claims so each bus passenger would have to file an uninsured motorist claim with their own auto insurance company if they have one. Buses don't usually carry uninsured motorist coverage for passengers, but you never know until you hire a lawyer to investigate this for you.  Each passenger may be able to use the auto insurance policy of the family members they live with. This is called resident family coverage. Bet you did not know that.  Most people don't. There are many places to look for auto insurance and this is why hiring an experienced Ohio personal injury lawyer is so important. Don't get stuck paying your own bills and not getting compensated for your injuries.  Auto insurance adjusters may not know all the other places you should look for insurance coverage. They usually work for the person who hurt you anyways.

Now if there is insufficient auto insurance all around, the passengers could use their health insurance to at least get their medical bills paid. If there is not enough auto insurance available to fully compensate everyone, then the passengers may not have to repay their health insurance for bills paid because of the accident. This is called the make whole doctrine.  There are exceptions to this rule, so don't just blindly repay your health insurance company, talk to a lawyer in this situation. What you don't know can hurt you.

If the bus driver is hypothetically at fault, then the doctrine of qualified immunity would apply, since we have a city school bus.  The city would pay after health insurance and auto MedPay has paid.  Whatever is left is the responsibility of the city. They also pay for pain and suffering, lost wages, etc. It is called qualified immunity because the city is immune from suit, but the immunity is qualified such that they pay what is left over after the victims' insurance pay. This is simply a state law designed to shift the burden of paying bills for negligent city employees away from the city or state and to the injured person.  

Also, in this qualified immunity situation, you may not have to repay your health insurance company. State law says they may lose their right to get their money back from the state for accident related medical bills they paid. Of course, if the health insurance plan is self-funded, it will argue it does not have to follow state law that destroys their right to get their money back. They would be correct. If this is the case, you want to make sure the city or state pays them back or you may have to. Your lawyer can confirm they really are self-funded and also negotiate with the self-funded plan. After all, if you don't pursue your claim the plan may not get repaid. As you can see this gets complicate real fast and what you don't know will likely cost you money.

Muskingum County, Ohio (population 84,585) had a total of 3,194 reported accidents in 2008. 10 of these accidents were fatal (11 total fatalities) and 664 were injury crashes (985 total injuries). Zanesville, Ohio (population 25,586) had a total of 1,393 reported accidents in 2008. 3 of these were fatal (4 total fatalities) and 231 were injury crashes (359 total injuries).


If you've been seriously injured or have lost a loved one in a Zanesville bus / car accident, call the Muskingum County auto accident and wrongful death attorneys / lawyers at Chester Law Group at 1-800-218-4243 or order your FREE BOOK entitled The Insider’s Guide to Handling Ohio Accident Claims at www.ChesterLaw.com.