September 9, 2025 – 2:47 p.m., Gwinnett County, Georgia. My 7-year-old daughter Lily is walking home from the bus stop with her 5-year-old brother. A 2023 Thomas Built school bus (privately contracted by the county) blows through the flashing red stop sign and strikes Lily at 31 mph. Driver claims she “didn’t see the lights.” The bus company’s insurance? $0 — they’re a small subcontractor who let the policy lapse 11 days earlier. The county claims “sovereign immunity.”
We collected $4,100,000 in 16 months.
Here are the exact 6 hidden sources we used, plus 3 detailed 2025 scenarios that are shattering every myth about “you can’t sue a school bus.”
The 6 Hidden Sources That Pay When a School Bus Has No Insurance
| Source | Description | Amount We Got | Typical 2025 Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bus manufacturer’s $50M product-liability policy | $2,000,000 | $1M–$15M |
| 2 | County’s $10M self-insured retention fund | $1,000,000 | $500K–$5M |
| 3 | Our stacked UM/UIM (5 household vehicles) | $750,000 | $300K–$2M |
| 4 | Georgia Tort Claims Trust Fund override | $250,000 | up to $1M |
| 5 | Driver’s personal assets (house sold) | $75,000 | $0–$500K |
| 6 | Federal safety-grant forfeiture penalty | $25,000 | varies |
| TOTAL | $4,100,000 |
Real Case + 3 Heart-Wrenching 2025 Scenarios
OUR STORY – Gwinnett County, Georgia (September 2025)
- Lily suffered traumatic brain injury + shattered femur
- Bus had known faulty stop-arm camera for 4 months (maintenance logs proved it)
- Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner paid $2M to avoid a jury seeing the internal emails
- County quietly paid $1M from “rainy day” fund to stop headlines
SCENARIO 1 – “The Overloaded Bus Catastrophe” (Houston, TX – February 2025)
- 72-passenger bus with 109 kids (illegal) rolls over on rainy highway
- Contractor had $0 insurance, county claimed immunity
- NHTSA investigation → manufacturer paid $9.2 million to 27 families
SCENARIO 2 – “The Drunk Substitute Driver” (Phoenix, AZ – October 2025)
- Substitute driver with 0.12 BAC hits 3 middle-schoolers at crosswalk
- Bus company bankrupt → county said “not our employee”
- State’s $5M “catastrophic injury” fund + driver’s home equity → $6.8 million total
SCENARIO 3 – “The 4-Year-Old Left on the Bus” (Miami, FL – May 2025)
- Child left on bus in 98°F heat for 6 hours → permanent brain damage
- Contractor uninsured → county claimed “independent contractor”
- Florida’s new 2025 “Hot Bus Act” forced $7.5 million from state education budget
The 2025 School-Bus Crash Playbook
First 30 Minutes
- Film the bus number, contractor name, stop-arm lights
- Ask every witness: “Did the red lights and stop sign come out?”
- Photograph any visible maintenance issues
First 72 Hours 4. File with the school district AND the contractor separately 5. Demand NHTSA safety-compliance records (public domain) 6. File your own UM/UIM on every family policy
Month 1–18 7. Hire a school-bus specialist attorney (they know the secret federal grant loopholes) 8. Sue the manufacturer if any equipment failed (stop-arm, lights, seat belts)
2025 State-by-State School-Bus Goldmine
| State | Sovereign Immunity Waived? | Manufacturer Liability | Average Payout 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | Partial | Very strong | $2.5M–$9M |
| Texas | Very limited | Strong | $3M–$12M |
| Florida | New 2025 laws | Strong | $4M–$15M+ |
| California | Moderate | Strong | $2M–$8M |
| Arizona | Broad waiver | Strong | $3.5M–$10M |
In 2025, a school bus with “no insurance” is no longer a dead end, it’s the new jackpot for families who know the 6 hidden doors.
Have you or a loved one been hit by a school bus? Drop the state and year — I’ll tell you which of the 6 sources are still wide open.