Newsletters

Tort Liability for School Bus Operations

The elongated yellow body of a school bus is a familiar sight on the streets and roads of the United States. Because of the frequency and scope of their operations and the manner of their employment, school buses inevitably become involved in motor vehicle accidents and other incidents that result in the bringing of legal actions seeking to recover damages for death, personal injury, or property damage caused by such incidents.

Effect of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards on Automotive Products Liability Cases

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, commonly known as NHTSA, an agency of the United States Department of Transportation, enacted an initial set of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, or FMVSS, in the late 1960s. NHTSA has amended and updated the FMVSS, and has added new standards to the original group of FMVSS, since that time. Every new motor vehicle sold in the United States is required to comply with all of the FMVSS that are applicable to that type of vehicle. (Due to differences in the configurations of passenger cars and trucks, certain of the FMVSS are limited in their application to one type of vehicle or the other.) In an automotive products liability case, a legal action in which a plaintiff seeks to recover damages from the manufacturer or seller of a motor vehicle for death, personal injury, or property damage caused by an alleged defect in the design or manufacture of the vehicle or by the failure to warn of a danger inherent in its use and operation, the FMVSS sometimes play a role in determining the outcome of the dispute between the parties.

Stacking Provisions for Auto-Insurance

Often more than one automobile insurance policy is in effect for vehicles involved in a collision. Sometimes a single insurance policy can contain several types of coverage that could be applied to the accident. When these situations exist, an insured or the passengers in the insured's vehicle may seek to combine the benefits of the multiple coverage provisions in the policy or policies. This is called "stacking." It can also be called "pyramiding."

Uninsured Motorists Insurance and Government Vehicles

After an automobile collision, many things can affect whether or not an injured person can recover his or her damages from the owner or driver of the vehicle that negligently caused his or her injuries. Among those factors is whether the vehicle was owned by a governmental entity, like a city or state. Often, governmental entities have immunity from suit by injured persons. In those cases, an injured person may seek to obtain insurance benefits under his or her insurance's uninsured motorist provision. Because the injured person is unable to sue the governmental entity, the vehicle may be considered uninsured for purposes of the insurance policy.

Overview of Underinsured/Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Because a substantial number of owners and operators of cars and trucks in the United States fail to maintain adequate insurance coverage or operate their vehicles without any insurance coverage at all, many motor vehicle insurance policies contain provisions for underinsured motorist coverage, sometimes abbreviated UIM, or uninsured motorist coverage, sometimes abbreviated UM. The intent of such provisions is to give persons insured under auto insurance policies and innocent third persons some of the insurance protection they would have enjoyed if the underinsured or uninsured motorist with whom they are involved in an accident had maintained adequate insurance coverage on an uninsured or underinsured vehicle.