Big Spring, Howard County, Texas: When a Wrong-Way Driver Met a School Charter Bus on I-20 — and Three People Never Came Home
If you are reading this because someone you love was on that bus, or because you lost someone on that service road, or because you are living through a similar crash right now somewhere else in West Texas — we want you to know something before anything else. The law has tools for this. The questions flooding your mind at 2 a.m. — who is responsible, is there insurance, was the bus company qualified to carry children, what happened to the evidence, is it too late — every one of those questions has an answer. We are going to give you all of them.
On November 19, 2021, a vehicle traveling the wrong way on the Interstate 20 service road at mile marker 179 in Big Spring, Howard County, collided with an Andrews High School charter bus carrying members of the school’s marching band to a playoff football game. Texas DPS confirmed fatalities at the scene. Life-flight helicopters lifted from the roadway. Three people were killed. Students were aboard that bus. The playoff game was postponed. And the corridor where it happened — the I-20 frontage road system running through the heart of the Permian Basin — is one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in West Texas, carrying a daily flood of oil field trucks, high-speed through traffic, and school transportation all on the same ribbon of asphalt.
We are Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC. We handle motor vehicle accident and wrongful death cases in Texas. We are writing this page as a resource — for the families connected to this crash, and for any family in West Texas who finds themselves in the same unbearable place after a school bus or charter bus collision. This page is legal information, not legal advice. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. But the law we are about to explain is real, it is Texas law, and it is the law that governs what happens next.
What Happened on Interstate 20 in Big Spring on November 19, 2021
Here is what the public record establishes. Around 4:00 p.m. on a Friday, a vehicle entered the I-20 service road traveling the wrong direction — against the flow of traffic — near mile marker 179 in Big Spring, the county seat of Howard County. At the same time, an Andrews High School charter bus was traveling that service road, carrying members of the Andrews High School marching band toward a UIL Class 4A Division I playoff football game. The vehicle and the bus collided.
DPS confirmed at least two fatalities within the first hour. A related report subsequently identified three people killed. DPS stated that no students were reported among the fatalities at that time. Life-flight helicopters and ambulances gathered at the scene. Traffic on I-20 was reduced. Portions of the service road were closed. The playoff game between Andrews and Springtown, scheduled to be played in Sweetwater, was postponed.
Andrews ISD issued a statement confirming that the bus carried marching band members:
“The bus had members of the marching band on board. Administrators are working to serve the needs of our students and their families. We cannot confirm anything else at this time.”
That statement — careful, guarded, the language of a district that knows it has legal exposure — tells you something important. The school district knew, within hours, that this crash would raise questions about who chose the carrier, how the carrier was vetted, and whether the carrier was qualified to transport children. Those questions are where a case begins.
The article describes the vehicle as a “charter bus” — not a standard yellow school bus. That single word changes everything about the legal landscape. A charter bus means Andrews ISD contracted with a third-party commercial passenger carrier. That carrier is subject to federal motor carrier safety regulations. That carrier owes a common carrier’s heightened duty of care to every student on that bus. And that carrier carries commercial insurance at levels that far exceed what a school district carries on its own vehicles. Identifying that charter company — whose name was not in the initial public report — would be the first priority of any investigation.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Wrong-Way School Bus Crash in Texas
A crash like this one does not have one defendant. It has a stack of them, and the stack is the first thing a trial lawyer maps.
The wrong-way driver. This is the primary defendant. Driving the wrong direction on a highway service road is a violation of Texas traffic law — specifically, the provisions of the Texas Transportation Code governing direction of travel on highway frontage roads. When a driver violates a traffic statute and that violation causes injury or death, Texas courts treat the violation as negligence per se — meaning the civil negligence is established as a matter of law by the violation itself. The wrong-way driver’s estate (if the driver was among the deceased) or the driver personally (if the driver survived) is the primary target. But primary does not mean only.
The charter bus company. This is the defendant that most families do not even know exists until a lawyer identifies it. The article says “charter bus” — which means a private, commercial passenger carrier contracted by Andrews ISD to transport students. That carrier is subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations under 49 CFR Parts 390–399. Those regulations govern driver qualification, hours-of-service compliance, vehicle maintenance, pre-trip and post-trip inspections, and minimum financial responsibility requirements that far exceed standard auto insurance limits. The charter company also owes its passengers a common carrier’s heightened duty of care — the highest degree of care consistent with the practical operation of its business. Any failure by the bus driver to perceive and react to the wrong-way vehicle, any deficiency in the bus’s brakes or steering, any gap in the driver’s training or medical certification — each is a place where the carrier’s own negligence can be proven independently of the wrong-way driver’s.
Andrews ISD. The school district selected and contracted the charter carrier. If the district failed to vet the carrier’s safety record, FMCSA compliance, or insurance adequacy, the district may bear liability for negligent selection. But claims against a governmental entity like a school district are subject to the Texas Tort Claims Act — which imposes damage caps and, critically, requires timely written notice of claim. The notice deadline under the Tort Claims Act can be far shorter than the two-year statute of limitations — sometimes measured in months, not years. Missing that notice deadline can forfeit an otherwise valid claim against the district entirely. This is a deadline trap that has killed more valid cases than any defense argument ever has.
The vehicle owner. If the wrong-way vehicle was owned by someone other than the driver — a family member, an employer, a leasing company — Texas law may impose vicarious liability or negligent entrustment claims against that owner. This matters because the wrong-way driver’s personal auto insurance may be limited to standard policy limits, and the vehicle owner’s coverage may represent a separate source of recovery.
Each of these defendants has a different insurance tower, a different set of duties, and a different deadline clock. Mapping all of them — not just the obvious one — is what separates a full recovery from a partial one. For a deeper look at how governmental-entity liability works in Texas school bus cases, see our page on Texas government vehicle accidents and the Tort Claims Act.
Texas Law on Wrong-Way Driving, Common Carrier Duty, and Wrongful Death
Texas law provides several powerful tools for families affected by a crash like this one. Each comes from a different place in the law, and each reaches a different defendant.
Negligence Per Se for Wrong-Way Driving
When a driver travels the wrong direction on a highway frontage road, that conduct violates the Texas Transportation Code’s provisions governing direction of travel on highway service roads. Under Texas negligence-per-se doctrine, a violation of a statute designed to protect the public from the type of harm that resulted establishes civil negligence as a matter of law. The plaintiff does not need to prove separately that the driver was careless — the violation itself is the negligence. What the plaintiff must still prove is that the violation was a proximate cause of the injuries or deaths. In a wrong-way collision on a service road, causation is rarely the contested element.
The Common Carrier’s Heightened Duty
A charter bus operator is a common carrier — a business that holds itself out to the public as willing to transport passengers for hire. Under Texas common law, a common carrier owes its passengers the highest degree of care consistent with the practical operation of its business. This is a standard higher than ordinary reasonable care. It means the carrier cannot defend itself by showing it did what “any reasonable bus company” would do — it must show it exercised the highest degree of care. For student passengers, this duty is even more resonant: a carrier transporting minors on behalf of a school district has undertaken a responsibility that the law takes extremely seriously.
Any failure by the charter bus driver to perceive the wrong-way vehicle in time to take evasive action — braking, swerving, stopping — is measured against this heightened standard. If a properly trained, fully alert, adequately rested driver exercising the highest degree of care could have perceived and reacted to the wrong-way vehicle, and the actual driver did not, the carrier faces comparative liability. This is why the driver’s qualification file, hours-of-service logs, training records, and medical certification are all critical evidence.
The Texas Wrongful Death Act and Survival Statute
Texas law provides two parallel claims after a fatal injury. The Texas Wrongful Death Act permits recovery by surviving spouses, children, and parents of the deceased. These beneficiaries may recover for the losses they personally suffered — the financial support the deceased would have provided, the companionship, the care, the guidance, the love. The Texas survival statute allows the estate of the deceased to recover for what the deceased person personally experienced between injury and death — conscious pain and suffering, medical expenses, lost wages. Together, these two statutory tracks mean that one death can produce two separate claims, brought by different parties, reaching different categories of damages.
Modified Comparative Negligence — the 51% Bar
Texas applies a modified comparative negligence standard with a 51% bar. This means a plaintiff’s recovery is reduced by their own percentage of fault — but if the plaintiff is found to be 51% or more responsible for their own injuries, they are barred from recovery entirely. In a wrong-way crash like this one, the wrong-way driver’s fault is likely overwhelming — but the defense will try to spread fault to the charter bus driver, to the road design, to anyone else, to push the wrong-way driver’s percentage below 51% and reduce the plaintiff’s recovery. Every percentage point the defense can pin on someone else is money out of the family’s recovery.
Punitive Damages for Gross Negligence
Texas allows punitive damages — called exemplary damages — upon a showing of gross negligence. If discovery reveals that the wrong-way driver was intoxicated, using a cell phone, fell asleep, or had a history of similar conduct, the recklessness standard is satisfied. Punitive damages are subject to statutory caps tied to the defendant’s net worth, but they are a powerful tool for holding a defendant accountable beyond mere compensation. For the charter carrier, punitive damages could be available if the company knowingly dispatched an unqualified driver, falsified hours-of-service records, or operated a bus with known mechanical defects.
The Texas Tort Claims Act — the Deadline Trap
Claims against Andrews ISD — a governmental entity — are governed by the Texas Tort Claims Act. The Act imposes damage caps that limit the amount recoverable from the district, regardless of the actual harm. It also requires timely written notice of claim — a deadline that can be far shorter than the two-year statute of limitations. This notice requirement is a trap that has cost families their right to sue the district entirely. If you are facing a crash involving a school district vehicle or a district-contracted carrier, confirming the current notice deadline is something that must happen within days, not months.
The Statute of Limitations
Texas imposes a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury and wrongful death actions. For the November 19, 2021 crash in Big Spring, that two-year deadline expired in November 2023. But if you are reading this because you or someone you love was involved in a similar crash — a school bus accident, a charter bus collision, a wrong-way crash on a Texas highway — your clock is running right now. Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. Evidence disappears on schedules measured in days and weeks, and the Tort Claims Act notice deadline for governmental entities can expire in a fraction of that time. The day you call a lawyer is the day the clock starts working for you instead of against you.
The Evidence Clock: What Records Exist and How Fast They Disappear
Every piece of evidence in a crash like this one has an expiration date. Some are measured in years. Some are measured in days. The fastest-dying evidence is often the most important — and the defense is counting on the clock running out before anyone asks.
The DPS CR-3 crash report and supplemental investigation materials. Texas DPS produces the official crash report (the CR-3) and any supplemental reconstruction findings, witness statements, and fatality determinations. These are permanently retained in DPS records and are obtainable through an open records request. This is the foundation document — but it is only the start, not the end, of the investigation.
The wrong-way vehicle’s event data recorder (EDR / black box). Modern vehicles carry an EDR that records pre-impact speed, braking input, steering angle, and seatbelt usage in the seconds before a crash. Under federal regulation, an EDR must record vehicle speed, brake application, throttle position, and other data elements in the seconds before impact. But EDR data can be overwritten — if the vehicle is driven again, if the module is replaced, or if the vehicle is salvaged and crushed. For a 2021 crash, this data is likely lost unless it was preserved in DPS evidence custody at the time.
The charter bus EDR and dashcam footage. Commercial charter buses increasingly carry event data recorders and dashboard cameras. The bus EDR would show the bus’s speed, braking, and driver reaction time in the seconds before the collision. Dashcam footage would show the visual record of the collision sequence — the wrong-way vehicle appearing, the driver’s response, the impact. Dashcam footage typically overwrites itself within days to weeks unless preserved. For a 2021 crash, this footage is almost certainly gone unless a preservation demand was sent within weeks of the crash.
The wrong-way driver’s toxicology results. If DPS drew blood or collected a toxicology sample at the scene or during the investigation, the results — blood alcohol concentration, drug panel — would be retained in DPS lab records. These are typically available through discovery if charges were filed, or through the DPS lab directly. Toxicology is the single most important evidence for building a punitive damages case. If the driver was intoxicated, the case transforms from a negligence case into a gross negligence case — and the punitive damages exposure changes the entire settlement dynamic.
The charter bus driver’s qualification file and hours-of-service logs. Federal motor carrier safety regulations require charter carriers to maintain a driver qualification file — including the employment application, motor vehicle record, road-test certificate, annual reviews, and medical examiner’s certificate. The carrier must retain this file for as long as the driver is employed plus three years. Hours-of-service logs — electronic or paper — must be retained for six months. Driver fatigue is a recurring factor in commercial bus crashes, and the HOS logs are the document that proves whether the driver had been on duty too long. Six months. After that, the carrier can legally destroy them.
Andrews ISD transportation contracts and carrier selection records. The contract between Andrews ISD and the charter company — and any records showing how the carrier was selected, vetted, and approved — are retained per the district’s records retention policy. These documents are obtainable through discovery or a public records request. They are the proof of whether the district performed due diligence or simply hired the cheapest carrier.
The wrong-way driver’s cell phone records. Call logs, text messages, and data usage timestamps can establish distracted driving at the time of the collision. Cell phone carrier retention varies — typically 6 to 18 months. For a 2021 crash, these records are likely unavailable absent an early subpoena.
The pattern is clear: the records that matter most — dashcam footage, EDR data, cell phone records, HOS logs — are the records that die fastest. The records that survive longest — the DPS report, the toxicology results, the transportation contracts — are important but tell only part of the story. This is why the preservation letter — a formal demand that the carrier, the school district, and every other party freeze all evidence — is the first thing a trial lawyer sends. Not after the funeral. Not after the insurance company calls. The day the family calls.
What a Charter Bus Crash Case Is Worth in Texas
Every case is different, and the value of any specific claim depends on the facts — the severity of injuries, the number of deceased, the available insurance coverage, the strength of the evidence, and the venue. But the framework for evaluating a case like this one is built from several components.
The case value range for a crash of this type: $2 million to $20 million. Multiple fatalities with clear liability from wrong-way driving support substantial recovery. The primary value driver is not liability — which is likely strong — but collectibility. The wrong-way driver’s personal auto insurance may be limited to standard policy limits. The charter bus company’s commercial coverage represents the deeper pocket if any carrier negligence is established. Injured students’ claims add significant value if serious injuries are documented. And punitive exposure could push the upper range if intoxication or egregious recklessness is proven.
Economic damages — the money side you can add up — include funeral and burial expenses, medical costs incurred between injury and death, lost earning capacity of the deceased, and the future medical care of any injured survivors. For injured students, economic damages include emergency medical treatment, potential surgical intervention, future medical care, and the cost of psychological treatment for trauma.
Non-economic damages — the human side no receipt can measure — include mental anguish, loss of companionship and society, loss of inheritance, conscious pain and suffering through survival actions, and for injured students, the pain, the fear, the PTSD, and the diminished quality of life that follows a mass-casualty event experienced alongside classmates.
The insurance coverage ladder. A standard personal auto policy in Texas might carry the state minimum or somewhat higher — one night in a trauma center can exhaust it. But a commercial charter bus operator is subject to FMCSA minimum financial responsibility requirements that exceed standard auto limits. The specific minimum depends on the type of operation and passenger capacity. On top of the primary commercial policy, there may be excess and umbrella layers. The same crash, with the same injuries, can be worth multiples more depending on which policies are identified and in what order they pay. This is why identifying the charter company and mapping its insurance tower is a first-order priority — the coverage map is half the value of the case.
The Tort Claims Act cap. Claims against Andrews ISD are capped by the Texas Tort Claims Act at amounts far below the actual loss. The specific cap amounts should be confirmed against current law, but the principle is clear: the district’s exposure is limited regardless of the harm. This makes the charter carrier — whose coverage is not capped — the primary value target if any carrier negligence can be established.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. If the wrong-way driver was uninsured or underinsured, the families may have UM/UIM coverage available through their own auto policies or through the charter bus company’s commercial policy. UM/UIM is a critical source of recovery when the at-fault driver’s coverage is inadequate — and in a wrong-way crash, the at-fault driver’s coverage is frequently inadequate.
The Injuries: What a Bus Crash Does to Teenagers’ Bodies and Minds
The medicine of a charter bus crash is different from the medicine of a passenger car crash — different forces, different interior geometry, different injury patterns. A charter bus is a large, heavy vehicle, and its structure absorbs and transmits crash forces differently than a passenger car. Students aboard the bus may have been seated in bench-style seats without seatbelts — many charter buses are not equipped with passenger restraints — which means the mechanism of injury for students includes rapid forward flexion and rebound, lateral acceleration, and potential ejection from the seating position.
Traumatic Brain Injury
A student’s head striking the seat in front, the window, the roof rail, or another student can produce a traumatic brain injury — and the injury may not be immediately obvious. A “mild” traumatic brain injury can come with a perfectly normal CT scan. The damage is diffuse axonal injury — the brain’s internal wiring stretched and torn by rotational forces — and it is invisible on standard imaging roughly 90% of the time in cases classified as “mild.” The symptoms surface over days and weeks: headaches, memory gaps, difficulty concentrating, personality changes, a short fuse. You may see it across the dinner table before any scan sees it. For a teenager, a brain injury can derail academic performance, social development, and the trajectory of an entire life. These injuries are proven with neuropsychological testing, advanced imaging (diffusion tensor imaging, susceptibility-weighted MRI), and the testimony of people who knew the person before. For more on brain injury cases, see our brain injury practice page.
Orthopedic Injuries
The forces in a bus crash — rapid deceleration, direction change, impact with interior surfaces — produce fractures, ligament tears, and spinal injuries. A student thrown from a bench seat may sustain wrist and arm fractures from bracing, facial fractures from impact with the seat frame, or spinal compression injuries from vertical loading. The treatment may involve surgical fixation, months of physical therapy, and in severe cases, permanent hardware.
Psychological Trauma — PTSD and the Mass-Casualty Event
The psychological injuries may be the most significant and the longest-lasting. A teenager who was aboard a bus when three people died — who heard the impact, saw the aftermath, sat trapped or frightened while life-flight helicopters landed — has experienced a mass-casualty event. Post-traumatic stress disorder in this context is not a soft diagnosis. It is a formal medical condition with eight diagnostic criteria, and a survivor has to meet every one. The nightmares, the avoidance of buses and highways, the startle response, the intrusive memories, the mood changes, the sleep disruption — these symptoms can persist for months or years. The clinical literature on trauma shows that the severity of PTSD is driven not only by the physical danger but by the perceived helplessness and the exposure to the suffering of others — both of which are present in abundance when a teenager watches classmates and adults die on a school bus.
The defense will try to minimize psychological injuries as “subjective” or “pre-existing.” The counter is the same one used in every serious brain injury case: the injury is real, it is diagnosable with validated clinical instruments, and it has a measurable lifetime cost — in therapy, in medication, in disrupted education, in lost earning capacity, in a life that does not go back to what it was.
The Trauma-Flight Reality of Howard County
Big Spring sits on I-20 roughly midway between Midland-Odessa and Abilene. It is a small city — the county seat of Howard County — and while it has a local hospital, serious trauma from a bus crash with multiple fatalities would require air transport to a higher-level trauma center. The life-flight helicopters the article describes were not a luxury. They were a necessity. The drive-time from Big Spring to the nearest Level I or Level II trauma center is measured in hours by ground — hours that, for a critically injured patient, are the difference between stabilization and deterioration. This drive-time reality matters to the case in two ways: it increases the medical costs (air transport is extraordinarily expensive), and it means that the quality of care the injured received was partly a function of where the crash happened — a rural West Texas corridor where high-level trauma care is not minutes away.
The Insurance Adjuster’s Playbook: What They Do Before the Funeral
If you have been through this, or you are going through it right now, you need to know what is happening on the other side while you are grieving. The insurance industry has a playbook, and it runs the same plays in almost every serious crash. Knowing them in advance is armor.
Play 1: The “Just Checking In” Recorded Statement. Within days, someone friendly will call to “check on you” and ask you to “just tell us what happened.” The call is recorded. Every word is built to be quoted against you later. If you say “I’m feeling okay” — that becomes “the plaintiff reported no injuries.” If you describe the crash and get a detail wrong — that becomes “the plaintiff’s own account is inconsistent.” The counter is simple: do not give a recorded statement to any insurance adjuster before consulting counsel. You are not required to. Say: “I am not giving a statement today. I will call you back.” Then call a lawyer.
Play 2: The Fast Settlement Check. A check may arrive fast — sometimes within weeks — with a release document attached. The release, once signed, extinguishes every claim you have against every party. The check is designed to arrive before the medical results do — before the MRI shows the brain injury, before the psychologist diagnoses the PTSD, before the surgeon says your child needs a second operation. The counter: never sign a release from an insurance company without having it reviewed by an attorney. A quick check is almost always a fraction of what the case is worth. The adjuster is not being generous. They are being strategic.
Play 3: The Social Media Surveillance. The adjuster’s investigator is monitoring social media. A photo of your child smiling at a birthday party will be presented as “no diminished quality of life.” A photo of you at a community event will be presented as “no mental anguish.” The defense does not need to prove you are fine — they just need one photo that looks like you are. The counter: set every social media account to private, instruct family members to do the same, and post nothing about the crash, the injuries, the case, or your daily activities until your lawyer tells you otherwise.
Play 4: The Independent Medical Examination. The insurance company will send you to a doctor they choose — called an IME. That doctor is not your doctor. They are paid by the insurance company to minimize your injuries. The IME report will say you are healed, or that your symptoms are pre-existing, or that you do not need further treatment. The counter: attend if required, but know what it is. Your own treating physicians — the doctors who actually cared for you — are the ones whose testimony matters.
Play 5: The “It Was Nobody’s Fault” Delay. The adjuster may say the investigation is “still ongoing” and they “cannot make an offer until liability is determined.” This is a delay tactic designed to run the clock — toward the statute of limitations, toward the evidence-destruction deadlines, toward the point where your medical bills force you to accept whatever they offer. The counter: the preservation letter goes out immediately, the investigation is conducted in parallel, and the clock is tracked from day one.
How a Case Like This Is Actually Built
A charter bus wrongful death and injury case is not filed on Day One. It is built, piece by piece, over weeks and months. Here is the chronological walk.
Week One: The Preservation Demand. The day the family calls, a preservation letter goes out — to the charter bus company, to Andrews ISD, to the wrong-way driver’s insurer, to any other party with custody of evidence. The letter names every record by type: the dashcam footage, the EDR data, the driver qualification file, the hours-of-service logs, the maintenance records, the transportation contract, the cell phone records, the toxicology results, the DPS investigation file. The letter converts automatic destruction into sanctionable spoliation. If a party lets evidence die after receiving a preservation letter, the court can tell the jury to assume the lost evidence was as bad for that party as the plaintiff says it was.
Weeks Two Through Four: The DPS Report and the Charter Company Identification. The DPS CR-3 crash report is obtained through an open records request. The charter bus company is identified — through Andrews ISD transportation contracts, through the DPS report, through the vehicle registration. Once identified, the carrier’s FMCSA safety record is pulled from the SAFER database — its operating authority status, its crash and inspection history, its out-of-service rates, its insurance filings on record. This is the defendant’s public safety rap sheet.
Months One Through Three: The Carrier’s Records. Discovery demands go out for the charter company’s driver qualification file, hours-of-service logs, vehicle maintenance records, pre-trip and post-trip inspection reports, prior incident history, and training records. The carrier’s safety rating, its BASIC percentiles under FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, and its prior violations are analyzed. The Andrews ISD transportation contract and carrier selection records are obtained — showing whether the district vetted the carrier or simply chose the lowest bidder.
Months Three Through Six: Expert Analysis. An accident reconstructionist downloads the EDR data from both vehicles and reconstructs the collision sequence — speeds, angles, reaction times, stopping distances. A human factors expert analyzes whether the charter bus driver could have perceived and reacted to the wrong-way vehicle in time to avoid the collision. A commercial bus safety expert evaluates the carrier’s compliance with FMCSA regulations. A pediatric trauma specialist or neuropsychologist evaluates the injured students. A life-care planner builds the cost of future care. A forensic economist reduces future losses to present value.
Months Six Through Twelve: Depositions and the Stowers Demand. The safety director of the charter company is deposed under oath. The bus driver is deposed. The investigating DPS trooper is deposed. Andrews ISD transportation officials are deposed. Then, when the full value of the case is established, a Stowers demand is evaluated — a formal settlement offer within the policy limits that, if rejected by the insurer, creates bad-faith exposure for the insurer if a later verdict exceeds the policy limits. In Texas, the Stowers doctrine is a powerful tool: an insurer that rejects a reasonable settlement offer within the policy limits and then loses at trial for more may have to pay the excess itself.
The First 72 Hours After a School Bus Crash in West Texas
If you are reading this because a crash just happened — not the 2021 Big Spring crash, but one happening right now — here is what matters in the first 72 hours.
Medical care comes first. Even if your child says they are fine, even if the emergency room sent them home, get a full evaluation. The symptoms of a traumatic brain injury can take days to surface. The symptoms of PTSD can take weeks. The symptoms of an internal injury can take hours. A documented medical evaluation on the day of the crash — or the day after — is the foundation of the medical record. “I felt okay at the time” is what the defense uses against you. A contemporaneous medical record is what defeats it.
Do not give a recorded statement. Not to the charter company’s insurer. Not to Andrews ISD’s insurer. Not to the wrong-way driver’s insurer. Not to any adjuster who calls your home. Say: “I am not giving a statement. I will call you back.” Then call a lawyer.
Do not sign anything. No release. No authorization. No waiver. No form of any kind from any insurance company. If someone puts a document in front of you and says “just sign this so we can process your claim,” do not sign it. Take a photo of it. Send it to a lawyer. Let the lawyer tell you what it actually says.
Preserve everything. Your child’s clothing from the crash. Photos of injuries. The names and phone numbers of witnesses. Screenshots of any social media posts about the crash. The medical records from every visit. The ambulance bill. The hospital bill. The life-flight bill if one was incurred. Every piece of paper. Every photograph. Every text message. If your child is old enough to have a phone, their photos and messages from that day are evidence.
Set social media to private. Every account. Every family member’s account. Post nothing about the crash, the injuries, the case, or your daily life. The adjuster’s investigator is already looking.
Confirm the deadlines. The two-year statute of limitations. The Tort Claims Act notice deadline if a governmental entity is involved. These are hard deadlines. Missing them is fatal. Confirm them with a lawyer within days.
Call us. 1-888-ATTY-911. Free consultation. No fee unless we win your case. We answer 24/7 — not an answering service, live staff. We serve families in English and in Spanish. The call costs nothing. Not calling can cost everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue the charter bus company if the wrong-way driver caused the crash?
Yes. The charter bus company is a commercial carrier that owes its passengers a heightened duty of care as a common carrier. Even when another driver causes the collision, the carrier can bear comparative liability if its own driver failed to perceive and react to the hazard, if the bus had mechanical deficiencies, or if the driver was fatigued or unqualified. The carrier’s commercial insurance coverage is typically far larger than the wrong-way driver’s personal auto policy, making it a primary target for recovery. The carrier’s compliance with FMCSA regulations — driver qualification, hours of service, vehicle maintenance — is where its own negligence is proven.
Can I sue Andrews ISD for contracting with the charter company?
Claims against Andrews ISD are possible but constrained by the Texas Tort Claims Act, which imposes damage caps and requires timely written notice of claim. The notice deadline can be far shorter than the two-year statute of limitations — sometimes measured in months. If the district failed to properly vet the charter carrier’s safety record, FMCSA compliance, or insurance adequacy, a negligent selection claim may exist. But the caps and the notice deadline are real barriers that must be navigated carefully and early.
How long do I have to file a lawsuit after a school bus crash in Texas?
Texas imposes a two-year statute of limitations on personal injury and wrongful death actions. But if a governmental entity like a school district is a defendant, the Texas Tort Claims Act may require a written notice of claim on a deadline that can be far shorter — sometimes as short as six months. These are two separate clocks, and the shorter one can kill the case before the longer one even becomes relevant. If you are facing a crash right now, confirm every applicable deadline with a lawyer within days.
What if the wrong-way driver was drunk or on drugs?
If toxicology results establish intoxication, the case transforms. Intoxication supports a gross negligence finding, which opens the door to punitive (exemplary) damages under Texas law. Punitive damages are subject to statutory caps tied to the defendant’s net worth, but the exposure itself changes the settlement posture of the entire case. Toxicology results are retained in DPS lab records and are typically available through discovery if charges were filed.
The insurance company already offered me a settlement. Should I take it?
Almost never — not without having it reviewed by an attorney. A quick settlement offer is almost always a fraction of what the case is worth. The offer is designed to arrive before the full extent of injuries is known, before the medical records are complete, and before the evidence has been investigated. Once you sign a release, every claim is extinguished — against every party — permanently. The release cannot be undone. Have any offer reviewed by counsel before you consider signing anything.
My child was on the bus and seems fine, but is having nightmares. Is that a claim?
Yes. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a diagnosable, compensable injury — not a “soft” claim. A teenager who witnessed a mass-casualty event on a school bus, who saw people die, who was trapped or frightened, has experienced a psychologically traumatic event. PTSD symptoms — nightmares, intrusive memories, avoidance, hypervigilance, sleep disruption, mood changes — can persist for months or years and can affect academic performance, social development, and earning capacity. The injury is proven with clinical diagnostic instruments and the testimony of treating mental health professionals.
What if the wrong-way driver had only minimum insurance?
Texas requires minimum auto insurance, but the minimum is often inadequate for a serious crash. If the wrong-way driver was uninsured or underinsured, you may have uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage available through your own auto policy or through the charter bus company’s commercial policy. UM/UIM coverage is a critical source of recovery in wrong-way crashes, where the at-fault driver’s coverage is frequently inadequate. Identifying all available UM/UIM policies is part of the coverage investigation.
How much does it cost to hire Attorney911 for a bus crash case?
Nothing upfront. We work on contingency — 33.33% before trial, 40% if the case goes to trial. We do not get paid unless we win your case. The consultation is free. The investigation is free. The preservation letters are free. You pay nothing out of pocket. If there is no recovery, there is no fee. That is the arrangement, and it is the arrangement because most families cannot afford to pay a lawyer by the hour at the moment they need one most.
Is it too late to do anything about the November 2021 Big Spring crash?
The two-year statute of limitations for the November 19, 2021 crash expired in November 2023. However, the legal framework that governs crashes like this one — charter bus liability, FMCSA regulations, the Texas Wrongful Death Act, the Tort Claims Act — remains the law today. If you are reading this because of a different crash, a more recent one, your clock is running now. The information on this page is here to help you understand what the law provides and what to do next. Call us.
What should I do if my child was injured in a school bus crash in West Texas?
Get medical care immediately and document everything. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance adjuster. Do not sign any release or authorization. Set social media to private. Preserve all evidence — photos, medical records, witness contact information, your child’s personal effects from the crash. Confirm every applicable deadline — the statute of limitations and any Tort Claims Act notice deadline. Then call a lawyer. The day you call is the day the preservation letter goes out, the day the evidence clock stops working against you, and the day someone starts building the case while you focus on your family.
Why Attorney911 Handles School Bus and Charter Bus Crash Cases
We are The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC — operating as Attorney911, the Legal Emergency Lawyers. We are based in Houston, and we take commercial-vehicle, catastrophic-injury, and wrongful-death cases across Texas. We have been in practice since July 18, 2001 — more than 24 years. Our aggregate recoveries exceed $50 million. That is a firm marketing figure, not a representation about any specific case.
Ralph P. Manginello is our Managing Partner — a trial lawyer with 27+ years of practice, licensed in Texas since November 6, 1998, admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He was a journalist before he was a lawyer — he learned to find the story, to ask the question that cracks the case, to write the argument that a jury can feel. He handles wrongful death, commercial vehicle crashes, and catastrophic injury cases. He is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Houston Bar Association, and the Trial Lawyers Achievement Association — Million Dollar Member. He speaks Spanish.
Lupe Peña is our Associate Attorney — a former insurance-defense attorney who spent years inside a national defense firm, in the rooms where adjusters and their software decided how to deny, delay, and devalue claims. He knows how the reserve is set in the first 48 hours before the real injuries are diagnosed. He knows how the recorded-statement call is engineered. He knows how the IME doctor is selected. He sat on the other side of the table — and now he sits on yours. He is fluent in Spanish and conducts full client consultations in Spanish without an interpreter. He is a third-generation Texan with family roots to the King Ranch.
The combination is deliberate. Ralph builds the case from the outside — the law, the evidence, the story the jury will hear. Lupe dissects the defense from the inside — the playbook, the valuation, the tactics. Together, they are the firm that knows what the other side is going to do before they do it, because one of them used to be the other side.
For families facing a charter bus crash, a school bus accident, or a wrong-way collision in Texas — we offer a free consultation, 24/7 live staff (not an answering service), and we do not get paid unless we win your case. Contingency: 33.33% before trial, 40% if trial. No upfront cost. No fee if no recovery.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. The call is free. The consultation is free. The preservation letter goes out the day you call. Hablamos Español. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. But the law is real, the evidence clock is running, and the other side has already started. We are ready when you are.
For more information on making a claim against a bus company, watch our video: How Do I Make a Claim Against a Bus Company?
