Lack of Regulation Regarding Ambulance Accidents in Texas Adds Insult to Injury
Background Statistics on Ambulance Accidents
A study of accidents occurring over a 20-year span conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that there was an average of 1500 ambulance wrecks involving injuries per year.
This included an average of 33 deaths due to ambulance crashes peach year studied. Of the deaths, 75% were to non-occupants of the ambulances.
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While this number is not, in and of itself, extremely high in comparison to the total number of car accidents and fatalities across the United States, this is still a significant number.
Accidents Involving Ambulances Are Not Like Other Automobile Accidents
There are several legal hurdles that a car accident victim may face in every case. However, due to various state laws protecting employers and emergency personnel, laws protecting state agencies, tort reform pertaining to healthcare liability claims, and lax requirements pertaining to insurance, the victim of an ambulance collision faces many hurdles that the average person would not expect to run into. Some can be fatal to a claim if overlooked.
The average individual who is in an accident, however, would have no reason to be aware of this. Thus, the unwary victim of an ambulance crash could find themselves re victimized again and again by not seeking legal advice promptly following the accident.
Lack of Adequate Insurance Requirements
Ambulances are emergency vehicles.
They are large and they must engage in risk behavior such as exceeding the speed limit to get people to the hospital. This equation, a calculated necessary risk for society, should be expected to result in some severe accidents occurring. Knowing this, it seems like a logical society would have standard rules requiring ambulances to carry a larger amount of insurance to cover these accidents.
Instead, there are few state or federal laws regulating what insurance coverage if any an ambulance must carry. Regulation is left up to the municipalities—which many simply do not take seriously.
In Houston, sadly the law requiring that private ambulance drivers carry insurance is so outdated that it does not even require the current $30,000 minimum insurance that is required by the state of Texas of all drivers of even non-ambulance vehicles. By law all drives must have $30,000 in coverage. However, even $30,000 is extremely low in-light-of the potential for serious injury when an ambulance crashes.
The Government Ambulance Trap: Claims Against a City and Sovereign Immunity
Many Ambulances are City and/or County owned and operated. Under Texas law, government entities such as municipalities and counties are protected by the Doctrine of Sovereign Immunity. Sovereign Immunity is the old common law rule of law that says that the crown (government) is immune from being sued by those it governs, unless the crown waives its immunity.
Texas Torts Claims Act and Ambulance Accidents
The State of Texas has waived the governmental immunity via the Texas Tort Claims Act for accidents involving automobile collisions.
However, there are restrictions within the act that provide certain protections to government agencies. One of these protections is the ability to set notice requirements of auto accident claims. Another protection is the elevated burden of proof that is placed upon the injured party in the case of official emergency situations.
Sovereign Immunity and Proper Notice
Before a person may bring a lawsuit against a government agency, the Texas Tort Claims Act requires that the individual comply with strict notice requirements.
The notice must provide the proper authority with a reasonable description of the damage or injury suffered, the time and place the incident producing the injury occurred, and how the incident occurred. Furthermore, the individual must provide this notice within 6 months after the incident occurs. Failure to comply with this means that the claim will be barred. Furthermore, municipalities often shorten the notice requirement to as little as 30, 60 or 90 days. In a typical car accident, a claimant who is injured and recovering can wait up to two years before filing a lawsuit and pursuing a claim. If a victim of an ambulance accident waits beyond the notice period, they may not be able to comply with the statutory requirement to give the government proper notice and their claim may be permanently barred.
The Recklessness Standard of Care
The transportation code governs vehicle operations of emergency responders. For instance, the operator of an emergency vehicle may exceed a maximum speed limit as long as the operator does not endanger life or property. Section 546.005 “imposes a duty to drive with due regard for others by avoiding negligent behavior, but it only imposes liability for reckless conduct.” Furthermore, In order to establish liability against a government ambulance under the Texas Tort Claims Act, a plaintiff must show that the governmental employee operated a motor vehicle with “conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others”, meaning that “a party knew the relevant facts but did not care about the result.” Thus, just being negligent in the operation of the ambulance is not enough to hold an emergency responder liable, you must find they effectively acted recklessly in the operation of the vehicle.
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