Helping Bakersfield Families After a Fatal Bus Accident

A bus crash can leave a family facing grief, bills, and hard questions at the same time. A wrongful death claim lets eligible family members seek compensation from the people whose wrongful act or negligence caused the death. Two deadlines matter most in California: a two-year filing period for many private defendants, and a six-month claim step when a government agency runs the bus. If you’re looking for a fatal bus accident wrongful death lawyer in Bakersfield, you can contact Colvin Accident Lawyers to talk through your family’s situation.

What a Fatal Bus Crash Wrongful Death Claim Is and Who It Is For

A wrongful death claim is a civil case brought after someone dies because another party’s negligence caused the death. Bus crash deaths take several forms:

• A bus passenger killed in a collision or rollover
• A pedestrian or bicyclist struck by a bus
• A driver or passenger in another vehicle hit by a bus

Colvin Accident Lawyers is based in Bakersfield, California. The firm represents accident victims and families in bus accident cases, including fatal crashes. It also handles car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, train, dog bite, premises liability, and catastrophic injury matters. This page is written for families in Bakersfield, Kern County, and nearby communities who are facing the loss of a loved one in a bus accident.

Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Claim in California

The decedent’s surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children can bring the claim under Code Civ. Proc. § 377.60. If there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the persons who would be entitled to the decedent’s property by intestate succession, including the surviving spouse or domestic partner, can bring it. The same statute also reaches some dependent family members. These include dependent parents, stepchildren, and a putative spouse (a person who believed in good faith that a void or voidable marriage was valid). A minor can qualify too, if at the time of the decedent’s death the minor had lived in the decedent’s household for the previous 180 days and depended on the decedent for one-half or more of the minor’s support.

The claim can also be brought by the decedent’s personal representative on the heirs’ behalf. A separate cause of action that survives the decedent’s death passes to the decedent’s successor in interest, who can bring it if there is no personal representative, under Code Civ. Proc. § 377.30. A successor in interest must sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury and attach a certified death certificate, under Code Civ. Proc. § 377.32.

Relationship and dependency can change who has the right to sue. Don’t assume your status without a review of your family’s facts and documents.

Who May Be Responsible After a Fatal Bus Crash

Responsibility can reach past the bus driver, depending on what caused the crash. Under Civil Code § 1714, a person is responsible for injury caused by a lack of ordinary care. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714 reads: “(a) Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself.” Parties whose conduct may be examined include:

• The bus driver, for unsafe driving or fatigue
• The company that operates the bus
• A maintenance or inspection contractor
• A vehicle or parts manufacturer
• Another driver whose negligence caused the crash

Federal rules set maintenance duties for motor carriers. Carriers must keep parts and accessories in safe and proper operating condition, under 49 C.F.R. § 396.3. That same rule requires bus emergency doors, pushout windows, and emergency door marking lights to be inspected at least every 90 days. Baggage must be stowed so that exits stay open, under 49 C.F.R. § 392.62.

When more than one party is at fault, each pays non-economic damages only in proportion to its own fault, under Civil Code § 1431.2. Fault depends on the facts of each crash.

What a Wrongful Death Claim Can Cover

A wrongful death claim covers the losses the family members suffered because of the death. A separate survival claim covers losses the decedent suffered before dying. Keeping these two apart helps families understand what their case may include.

Under Code Civ. Proc. § 377.34, survival damages are limited to losses the decedent sustained or incurred before death. These can include penalties or punitive damages the decedent could have recovered. The statute says these damages do not include pain, suffering, or disfigurement, with one exception.

Under Code Civ. Proc. § 377.34(b), this exception reached only actions that had received a court preference before January 1, 2022, or that were filed on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2026. That filing window closed on January 1, 2026, so it does not apply to a case filed now. The filing date matters here.

Value turns on the crash facts, the evidence, and the family’s losses. No one can say in advance what a case is worth.

Deadlines and Time-Sensitive Steps Families Should Know

A wrongful death lawsuit, for a death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another, must be filed within two years. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 sets that two-year period for death caused by another’s wrongful act or neglect.

Suit timing against a public entity has its own rules. A written claim for a death must be presented within six months after the cause of action accrued, under Gov. Code § 911.2. If the public entity gives written notice acting on the claim under Section 913, suit is due within six months after that notice is delivered or mailed; if it gives no such notice, suit is due within two years from accrual, under Gov. Code § 945.6.

Early steps help protect the claim:

• Get the crash report and write down its number
• Request coroner or medical examiner records
• Save dashcam video, phone data, and any traffic ticket
• Ask the operator to keep maintenance and inspection records

A driver involved in a crash that causes injury or death must report it within 10 days, under Vehicle Code § 16000, unless the vehicle was owned or leased by, or under the direction of, the United States, this state, another state, or a local agency. Ask whether that report exists. Don’t wait for insurers or the bus operator to reach out before you get advice on deadlines.

How a Bus Crash Wrongful Death Case Works, Step by Step

A case usually moves through five stages. The timing of each stage varies, and no one can predict it in advance.

1. First consultation. You share the crash date, the place, and your family’s relationship to the decedent. The firm explains the claim options.
2. Evidence preservation. Letters ask the operator and insurers to keep vehicle data, driver logs, inspection records, and video.
3. Investigation. The team reviews the crash report, witness statements, medical and coroner records, and the bus’s maintenance history.
4. Claim presentation. The claim goes to insurers or responsible parties, and the family receives regular updates.
5. Filing suit, if needed. A lawsuit is filed within the deadlines, followed by discovery, the formal exchange of evidence, and possible resolution before trial.

Why Families in Bakersfield Turn to Colvin Accident Lawyers

Colvin Accident Lawyers is a personal injury firm based in Bakersfield, California. Families looking for a fatal bus accident wrongful death lawyer can work with a firm that also handles car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, train, dog bite, premises liability, and catastrophic injury cases.

Donald Norman Colvin is the responsible lawyer for this page. Our team includes assistants and office staff who help keep families informed about their case.

The firm is based in Bakersfield and works with families in Kern County and nearby communities, including Fresno, Visalia, Lancaster, Palmdale, Delano, and Tehachapi. Each case turns on its own facts and evidence. No lawyer can say in advance how a case will end.

Common Questions Families Ask About Fatal Bus Crash Claims

Most families ask about lawsuits, fault, public agencies, and cost first. Short answers follow.

Talk With a Bakersfield Lawyer About Your Family’s Loss

When a bus crash takes someone you love, grief, bills, and deadlines can arrive together. If that’s your family’s situation, you may have a claim against the parties responsible. Reach out through the Colvin Accident Lawyers contact form, or call the firm, to talk through the crash facts and the deadlines that may apply to your loss.

Colvin Accident Lawyers, Bakersfield, California — responsible for this site. Responsible lawyer: Donald Norman Colvin.