Atlanta bus accident lawyer

A bus crash is different from an ordinary fender-bender. Many people can be hurt at once, standing riders can be thrown without warning, and the bus may belong to a public agency with its own deadlines and immunity rules.

At Huggins Accident Injury Lawyer, attorney Gary Huggins works as an Atlanta bus accident lawyer for passengers, drivers, pedestrians and cyclists hurt in bus crashes across metro Atlanta. He sorts out who ran the bus, which rules apply, and what has to be filed and when.

Hurt today? Call (240) 421-5511 at any hour. If you can't travel, Gary can meet you at home or at the hospital.

Bus crashes we handle in metro Atlanta

• MARTA buses, on busy corridors like Buford Highway and at the rail stations where routes connect
• CobbLinc, Cobb County's bus system, and Ride Gwinnett, Gwinnett County's
• School buses from districts such as DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Cobb County schools and Atlanta Public Schools, plus private school, daycare and church buses
• Charter and intercity buses: tour coaches, team and event charters, and long-distance coaches on I-75, I-85 and I-20
• Hotel, airport and parking shuttles, including shuttles between Hartsfield-Jackson and nearby hotels and parking lots, plus apartment, hospital and campus shuttles

The first question in every bus case is who owned and ran the bus, because that decides the deadlines, the immunity rules and who pays. The answer isn't always obvious; some public bus service is operated day to day by private contractors.

Not sure whether the bus was public or private? Call (240) 421-5511; finding that out is the first thing Gary does.

Why bus companies owe passengers extraordinary diligence

Georgia puts carriers of passengers in a special category. Under O.C.G.A. § 46-9-132, a carrier “must exercise extraordinary diligence to protect the lives and persons of his passengers.”

Georgia defines extraordinary diligence as “that extreme care and caution which very prudent and thoughtful persons exercise” in similar circumstances (O.C.G.A. § 51-1-3). Falling short of it is called slight negligence. That is a higher standard than the ordinary care most drivers owe each other.

In practice, a breach can look like:

• Braking hard because the driver was following too closely, speeding or looking at a phone
• Pulling away while a rider is still boarding, stepping off or reaching for a seat
• Closing the doors on a passenger
• Failing to secure a wheelchair or deploy a ramp safely
• Running a bus with worn brakes, bad tires or a broken step

The duty has limits. Normal stops and starts are part of riding a bus, and the statute says a carrier isn't liable for injuries once it has used extraordinary diligence. Bus video and other riders' accounts usually show which side of that line a case falls on.

Public transit systems and charter and intercity bus companies are generally treated as carriers of passengers. A free hotel or parking shuttle may or may not be, depending on how it operates. Even when the higher standard doesn't apply, the operator can be responsible for a careless driver.

How bus crashes happen around Atlanta

• Sudden stops and lurches that throw standing riders into poles, seats and the floor
• Falls on the steps and at the doors while boarding or getting off
• Wide right turns that sweep into the next lane or across a crosswalk
• Blind spots that hide cyclists and people walking near stops
• Buses pulling away from the curb into traffic
• Rear-end crashes in stop-and-go traffic
• Driver fatigue on long charter runs, and distraction on any route
• Worn brakes, tires, mirrors and wheelchair lifts
• Cars that run into buses, and drivers who illegally pass a stopped school bus

Stops on wide, fast roads add risk for people on foot. Buford Highway has long stretches with few crosswalks, so people walking to and from a stop may cross where there's no signal. Our article on Buford Highway pedestrian safety covers that corridor.

Hurt in a fall on a bus or at a stop? Call (240) 421-5511 and give Gary the route, the time and the bus number if you have it.

Claims against MARTA, counties, cities and school districts

Governments in Georgia are generally immune from lawsuits except where the law waives that immunity, and the waivers come with strict conditions. One of the most important is ante litem notice: written notice of the claim, sent within a short window before you can sue.

• Cities: notice within 6 months of the injury (O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5).
• Counties: notice within 12 months (O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1), which can matter for county transit systems like CobbLinc and Ride Gwinnett. For a county vehicle, immunity is waived only up to the insurance amounts Georgia law sets (O.C.G.A. § 33-24-51 and § 36-92-2).
• The State: the Georgia Tort Claims Act requires notice within 12 months (O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26), for example for a bus or shuttle run by a state agency or state university. Recovery is limited to $1 million for each person and $3 million for each occurrence (O.C.G.A. § 50-21-29).
• MARTA: a public transit authority. Special notice rules and shorter deadlines can apply to claims against it, so call right away.
• School districts: public school buses belong to government bodies too, and those claims raise their own immunity and notice questions.

A notice that is late, incomplete or sent to the wrong office can sink a claim that would otherwise be strong. Until we confirm who ran the bus, assume the shortest deadline applies. Our guide to Georgia's injury deadlines explains how these notices fit with the two-year statute of limitations.

If a MARTA, CobbLinc, Ride Gwinnett or school bus was involved, call (240) 421-5511 soon. Any notice clock usually starts running on the day of the crash.

Passengers, other drivers and pedestrians: where you were matters

If you were a passenger

Passengers get the benefit of the extraordinary-diligence standard. Even when another vehicle hit the bus, the bus driver's own conduct gets a hard look, and you may have claims against both. If the other driver was uninsured or underinsured, your own UM coverage may help.

If you were driving another vehicle

The question is the familiar one: was the bus driver careless? Comparative fault matters here too. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, a driver who is 50% or more to blame can't recover, and a smaller share of blame reduces the award by that percentage.

Much of what applies in a car accident claim applies here, plus the public-entity rules above.

If you were walking or on a bike

You may have been hit at a stop, or in a crosswalk while the bus turned. Georgia law makes every driver, bus drivers included, stop and wait for a person in a crosswalk on the bus's side of the road (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-91). Read more about pedestrian accident claims.

Insurance on private buses

Private interstate bus companies must carry far more insurance than a car owner. Under federal rules (49 C.F.R. § 387.33), a for-hire bus company that crosses state lines generally needs at least $5 million in coverage for a vehicle seating 16 or more people, counting the driver, and $1.5 million for smaller vehicles, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Companies that operate only within Georgia can fall under different rules.

Hit by a charter or intercity bus? Call (240) 421-5511, and Gary can identify the carrier and its insurer.

Evidence that disappears fast after a bus crash

Bus cases often turn on evidence the operator controls, and some of it doesn't last:

• Video from cameras inside and outside the bus, which can be recorded over
• GPS and vehicle data that can show speed, braking and stops
• Dispatch recordings and the operator's own incident report
• Driver records: training, schedules, hours and safety history
• Maintenance and inspection records for brakes, tires, doors and lifts
• Fare records, such as a Breeze card or mobile ticket history, a transfer, or a charter or shuttle booking, that prove you were a passenger
• The police report, and the names of other riders and witnesses

We send preservation demands right away and, with public systems, use Georgia's Open Records Act as well. Your crash report may come from Atlanta Police, a county or city department or the Georgia State Patrol; see our guide to requesting a crash report in metro Atlanta.

Call (240) 421-5511 so those requests go out while the footage still exists.

What a bus injury claim can include

Riders thrown inside a bus can suffer hip, wrist and shoulder fractures, head injuries and back injuries. People struck by a bus can suffer crush injuries, brain trauma and spinal cord injuries. Seriously injured people in the metro are often taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, the region's Level I adult trauma center.

A claim can include:

• Medical care, now and in the future
• Income lost while you recover, and reduced earning ability
• Pain, fear and the parts of life the injury takes away
• Property damage, if your vehicle was hit

When the defendant is a private company, Georgia sets no limit on pain-and-suffering damages in an ordinary injury case; when it's a public body, the caps and insurance limits above can apply. Under SB 68, for claims that arose on or after April 21, 2025, the defense can tell the jury what your health insurance paid (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1), so keep the paperwork.

If a loved one died, the family may bring a wrongful death claim.

How long do you have to file a bus accident claim in Georgia?

In a public bus case, the written notice deadline usually comes long before the two-year lawsuit deadline (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33). Damage to your car can be claimed for up to four years (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-31).

• City bus: notice within six months
• County or State bus: notice within twelve months
• MARTA: special notice rules can apply, with deadlines shorter than the two-year lawsuit window
• Private bus or shuttle: the regular deadlines, with no government notice step

A child hurt on a school bus generally has until age 18 before the injury deadline starts to run. A parent's own claim for the child's medical bills is on a different clock, though, and government notice rules may still apply, so call (240) 421-5511 early.

What to do after a bus accident

• Tell the driver you're hurt, and ask that an incident report be made.
• Get medical care, even if the pain seems minor at first.
• Photograph the bus number, the route sign, the step or aisle where you fell, and your injuries.
• Write down the time, the location and the direction of travel.
• Keep your fare card, ticket or receipt.
• Get names and numbers of other riders and witnesses.
• Don't sign a release or give a recorded statement to the bus company's insurer before getting advice.
• Call (240) 421-5511. The sooner Gary knows who ran the bus, the sooner the right notice can go out.

Talk to an Atlanta bus accident lawyer today

Our office at 1050 Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 500, Atlanta, GA 30338 sits in Perimeter Center, near the Dunwoody MARTA station and the I-285 and GA-400 interchange. Meet Gary there, on a video call or by phone, or ask him to come to you. He also speaks Spanish.

Consultations are free, with no attorney's fee unless we recover compensation for you. Where every client is family.

Day or night, call (240) 421-5511 and tell Gary what happened on that bus. He'll explain what has to happen next, and by when.