Have you been hurt in a car accident caused by an ambulance? If you have, then you may be confused as to exactly how the process works. This is understandable, because there are a lot of peculiarities to these kinds of cases. In cases involving government vehicles, there are all different kinds of deadlines that apply. Not following those deadlines can be fatal to your case. If that wasn’t complicated enough, there are also private ambulances that have different rules. Our friends from Blaszkow Legal, PLLC explain in more detail here.
If you have been hurt in a motor vehicle collision with an ambulance, it’s extremely important that you contact a lawyer immediately. The longer you wait, the more chance there is that evidence will be lost, destroyed, or overwritten over time. Equally importantly, without contacting a lawyer, you may overlook certain “notice” deadlines that exist. You may not even realize what those deadlines are, or that they can change based on the facts of the case.
Investigating an accident is key. The sooner your attorney does it, the sooner he or she can get on top of the facts, and apply those facts to the law. There are many different kinds of ambulances on the road. All of them are classified as emergency vehicles, but collisions involving them can be handled differently, depending on what is going on in that particular situation.
Private Ambulances
Private ambulances are owned by private individuals, or private companies. This includes hospitals. Private ambulances exist to handle complicated medical transports, in both emergent and non-emergency situations. For example, a person may go to a regular hospital, but that hospital may not be equipped as a trauma center. So a private ambulance will take that person from the smaller hospital to the nearest trauma center.
A crash involving a private ambulance, as long as the vehicle is completely private in ownership, is generally going to be handled as a normal motor vehicle collision. There are generally no specific “notice” requirements, other than those applicable to standard car and truck accident cases.
Government Ambulances
Government ambulances are generally those responding to 911 calls, and they fall broadly into three different categories—local, state, and federal. These have very unique “notice” requirements that private ambulances do not.
Local Ambulances
A local ambulance is going to be generally owned and operated by a city, town, county, or other local fire department or Emergency Medical Services outfit. These are sometimes staffed by paid personnel, and sometimes by volunteers. Claims against a local government entity are going to be governed by your state’s local government tort claims act. This is going to impose a specific deadline on you, the claimant. If you do not file the claim and provide notice in accordance with that law, your claim may be dismissed on procedural grounds, regardless of how negligent or reckless the emergency vehicle was operating!
State Ambulances
State ambulances operate in a variety of different functions. Sometimes they belong to park or forest authorities, sometimes to state hospitals, and other state-level entities. There are specific deadlines applicable to state government vehicles, meaning that you have to provide notice to the state and formalize the tort claim. In Virginia, for example, where we practice, this deadline is one year. This means that even though the lawsuit can be filed later, the state must receive notice within that one-year window, or else we can lose the claim. Beware, because, as in Virginia, the local government deadline is different than the state government deadline!
Federal Government Ambulances
Federal government ambulances do exist, most commonly on and around military bases. They can also be found transporting people from Veterans Affairs hospitals, and sometimes from federal parks and reservations. Motor vehicle collisions involving federal ambulances and federal vehicles are going to be governed by the Federal Tort Claims Act. This is a single law, applicable everywhere in the country. A claim must be formally noticed to the federal government—specifically the entity involved—within two years after the crash. If notice is not provided in that two-year time period, then the claim can be dismissed.
Final Thoughts
If you have been hurt in a car accident where an ambulance acted negligently, recklessly, or improperly, then there are a lot of moving parts that you may not realize. It is extremely important that you contact an experienced car, truck, or motorcycle accident lawyer immediately. The sooner you contact an attorney, the sooner you can be sure that the law is being checked, and your case preserved so that you can get the compensation you deserve!