Port Richey bus accident lawyer

A bus weighs ten to fifteen times what a car does. When one is involved in a crash on US-19, SR-54 or US-301, the people in the car, on the sidewalk, or standing in the aisle of the bus take the force. What happens next legally depends entirely on who owns the bus.

Conde-Huggins Accident Injury Lawyers handles bus injury claims from our office at 6609 Ridge Road in Port Richey. Call (240) 421-5511 for a free consultation. There is no attorney's fee unless we win.

Buses on Pasco County roads

GOPasco. Pasco County Public Transportation, branded GOPasco, is run by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners. As of early 2026 it operated 14 fixed routes serving Dade City, Land O' Lakes, New Port Richey, Port Richey, Trinity, Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills, with connections to Hernando County transit, PSTA in Pinellas and HART in Hillsborough. Its cross-county route along SR-54 has run since 2012. GOPasco also operates paratransit service for riders with disabilities. Every one of those buses is a county vehicle.

Pasco school buses. The District School Board of Pasco County runs one of the larger school bus fleets in the state, covering neighborhoods from Hudson and Shady Hills to Wesley Chapel and Dade City. School buses are government vehicles too.

Private buses. Charter buses carrying groups to Tampa International Airport, the cruise port and the theme parks; tour and casino buses; church vans and assisted-living shuttles out of the retirement communities along US-19; hotel and employer shuttles. These are private companies.

That ownership line is the first thing we establish, because the two paths look nothing alike.

Claims against GOPasco or a Pasco school bus: sovereign immunity

Florida has waived sovereign immunity for negligence by its agencies and subdivisions, which means you can bring a claim against Pasco County or the school board. Fla. Stat. § 768.28 sets the terms.

The caps

Recovery is limited to $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, regardless of the severity of the injury. No punitive damages. No prejudgment interest. A judgment above the cap can be paid only if the Legislature passes a claims bill, which is a political process that takes years and succeeds rarely. For a catastrophic injury, this cap is the hardest conversation we have with a family, and it is why we look for every other responsible party.

The notice

Before suing, you must present a written notice of claim to the agency. For claims against the state or its agencies, notice must also go to the Department of Financial Services; for claims against a county or municipality, notice goes to the county or city itself. The notice must include the claimant's date of birth and Social Security number. It must be presented within three years of the crash, or two years for wrongful death. The agency then has six months to deny the claim or settle it (90 days for wrongful death) before a lawsuit can be filed. Miss the notice, and the lawsuit is dismissed.

The clock

The negligence statute of limitations in Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a) is two years. The notice window is three. The six-month response period sits inside both. We do not try to use every day of any of those periods. The notice goes out as soon as the injuries are understood, and we treat the two-year date as the last possible day to file.

What the bus's driver owed you

A GOPasco or school bus driver owes the same duty of reasonable care as any other driver, and professional drivers are held to the training and procedures their employer requires. Sudden stops that throw standing passengers, pulling from a stop into traffic, failing to secure a wheelchair, striking a pedestrian in a crosswalk at a transfer point, or rear-ending a car on Little Road are all negligence claims against the county or school board.

If you are unsure whether the bus that hit you was public or private, call (240) 421-5511 and we will find out.

Claims against private charter, tour and shuttle buses

A private bus company has no sovereign immunity, no cap and no notice requirement. The claim proceeds like a commercial truck case, and the company's own records are the evidence.

Bus companies that carry passengers for hire are motor carriers subject to federal and Florida regulation. They must qualify their drivers, keep hours-of-service logs, maintain and inspect their vehicles, and carry commercial liability insurance set by federal rule for passenger carriers, which runs into the millions for full-size buses. That coverage is why serious injuries in a charter crash are often fully compensable when the same injury in a county bus crash is capped.

Evidence we move to preserve in the first days:

• Onboard camera footage, inside and outside the bus
• GPS, telematics and electronic logging device data
• The driver's qualification file, training records, drug and alcohol testing history and prior incidents
• Maintenance and inspection records, especially brakes and tires
• The trip manifest and passenger list, which identifies witnesses
• Dispatch communications and the company's own incident report

A preservation letter goes to the company immediately, because retention schedules are short and companies do not volunteer what they are not asked to keep.

Who gets hurt in bus crashes

Bus passengers. Transit buses have no seat belts and riders often stand. A hard stop or a collision throws people into poles, seats and the floor. Head, shoulder, hip and spinal injuries are typical, and older riders along the US-19 corridor are especially vulnerable.

People in cars. A bus pulling into traffic from a stop, changing lanes on SR-54, or turning across an intersection in Zephyrhills can crush a sedan. The occupants of the car bring a claim against the bus's owner, public or private.

Pedestrians and cyclists. Bus stops on US-19 and Little Road sit mid-block. Riders cross to reach them and cross again after getting off, sometimes in front of the bus, where approaching drivers cannot see them. The driver who hits a pedestrian is the primary defendant; the placement of the stop may add a claim against the county or FDOT.

Children at school bus stops. Fla. Stat. § 316.172 requires drivers in both directions to stop for a school bus displaying its stop signal, except on a divided highway with an unpaved space or barrier of at least five feet, where only traffic behind the bus must stop. A driver who runs the stop arm and hits a child faces a negligence claim with no cap. If the bus driver released a child into traffic improperly, the school board claim runs alongside it.

PIP and your own insurance after a bus crash

If you own an insured vehicle, or live with a relative who does, that policy's personal injury protection under Fla. Stat. § 627.736 pays the first $10,000 of your medical and disability benefits whether you were a bus passenger, a pedestrian or a driver, subject to the 14-day treatment rule and the $2,500 limit for cases without a documented emergency medical condition. Public transit buses are generally outside Florida's no-fault system, so a GOPasco rider with no household auto policy may have no PIP at all. Health insurance becomes the bridge while the liability claim proceeds.

Pain and suffering against a motor vehicle owner or operator requires meeting the permanent-injury threshold in Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2). Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage under Fla. Stat. § 627.727 matters most in the cases where a third driver caused the crash by hitting the bus; Florida does not require that driver to carry bodily injury coverage, and your UM may be the only source of recovery beyond PIP.

Florida's modified comparative negligence rule, Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6), applies in bus cases as in any other: fault is apportioned among the bus operator, other drivers and the injured person, and a claimant more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. Bus operators, public and private, argue fault aggressively. Standing passengers are told they should have held on; pedestrians are told they crossed in the wrong place. The bus's own camera usually settles it.

What a bus injury claim may include

Medical bills and future care, lost wages and earning capacity, and, where the threshold is met, non-economic damages for pain and the loss of your normal life. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.0427 the evidence of medical expenses is limited to amounts paid or payable, so treatment is planned with that in mind. In a fatal crash, the estate's personal representative brings a claim under the Florida Wrongful Death Act, Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16–768.26, within two years; against a government bus the caps and notice rules still apply. Our wrongful death page covers who may recover.

For crashes involving a rideshare vehicle rather than a bus, see our Uber and Lyft accident page; for commercial trucks, our truck accident page; and if you were on foot when a bus or car hit you, our pedestrian accident page explains your coverage.

Talk to a Port Richey bus accident lawyer today

Clementine Conde has practiced in Florida courts since 1992 and is responsible for every case this firm handles. Our office is on Ridge Road between US-19 and Little Road, and we meet injured clients at home or in the hospital anywhere in Pasco County. The consultation is free, there is no attorney's fee unless we recover compensation, our staff speak Spanish, and the phone is answered 24 hours a day. Call (240) 421-5511 or contact us online before the bus company's retention schedule runs out.