Lyft, Uber Lawsuit: All that You Need to Know
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If you use the Lyft and Uber ride sharing services services, then you need to read this. Whether you’re the driver or the rider, if you’re involved in an accident, then here are the facts you should know about the ride-sharing service insurance policy. These will help you in the Lyft/Uber lawsuit or settlement, or just make you aware of the various laws pertaining to accidents involved with any ride-sharing services. ~ Ed.
With ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft on the rise, it’s important for passengers of these services to be aware of all the laws pertaining to what happens if you’re involved in an accident while using a lift-sharing service.
Any time you use any sort of transportation, it could be argued that you’re putting your life in someone else’s hands. You’re entrusting the driver of the vehicle with safely transporting you to your destination.
Of course, we all know there are more factors at play than just how safe your Uber or Lyft ride-share driver is.
You also need to consider the other drivers on the road. Sometimes, no matter how safe your Uber or Lyft driver is, another car can crash into your Uber or Lyft driver’s vehicle.
Any time an auto accident occurs, you could be subject to a variety of physical, psychological, mental and emotional injuries. The question when you’re using a ride-sharing service is who’s to blame?
Here is the basic information about the ride-sharing accident laws that may help you if you’re considering Lyft/Uber lawsuit or settlement for yourself or your loved ones.
Determining Fault
Normally, if you’re driving down the road and you get into an accident with another vehicle, then lawyers, insurance claim adjusters. Sometimes the court has to determine who is at fault (or more at fault if you are both at fault) so that any injuries can be fairly compensated for.
However, if you are the rider in a ride-sharing service, and say you’re involved in a Lyft/Uber lawsuit or settlement, then the situation is a bit different.
When you’ve been ridesharing, it doesn’t matter if another vehicle hit your Uber or Lyft driver. It doesn’t matter even whether or not your Uber or Lyft driver was at fault for the accident.
Since you were in the care of the company, the company is deemed to be responsible for your safety.
The good news is that Uber has a $1 million insurance policy that can immediately kick in to cover you if an Uber driver has an accident with a passenger in the vehicle. Lyft has a comparable policy.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that just because you’re in an accident while using a ride-sharing service that you’ll instantly get a million bucks. There are a few stipulations that could change the game.
Related Read: Uncommon Ways to Save on Car Insurance
Uber/Lyft App Activity
Before getting into what the extenuating circumstances are that eventually affect Uber or Lyft insurance payouts, first it’s necessary to describe how Uber and Lyft work.
If you’ve never taken a ride from a company like Uber or Lyft (or even if you have), you might not know how the company tracks its drivers. The way that it does so is via their apps.
Ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft have apps that connect drivers with passengers.
When a ride-sharing driver is on his or her way to pick up a passenger, they have to have their app on and their location services turned on. This lets passengers know how far away their drive is. Besides that it provides documentation to the company that the driver is doing what he or she is getting paid to do.
Ride-sharing drivers also have to have the app running while the passengers are in their vehicles too.
Where personal injury responsibility can sometimes get tricky is when it comes to determining at what stage of transport the driver was in when the accident happened.
Was the App On?
If the driver didn’t have the Uber or Lyft app on, then he or she is considered off duty. Thus, the ridesharing company he or she represents is not held accountable for any injuries that the driver or passenger sustain.
In such instances, the driver’s insurance policy would have to kick in to pay for any medical expenses. And if he or she didn’t have sufficient insurance, then the passenger’s own uninsured or underinsured motorists policy would have to suffice.
In instances where the driver actively has the app on and has a passenger in the vehicle and gets into an accident, it’s usually pretty indisputable that Uber, Lyft or the other ride-sharing service is deemed responsible for the accident. As such, the $1 million coverage insurance policy would kick in.
What About the Driver?
If you’re the driver for Uber or Lyft, then you can cash into the company’s insurance policy in certain situations.
For instance, if you had the Uber or Lyft app turned on because you were waiting for a ride request, and you’re involved in an accident, Uber insurance kicks in because you were considered on duty when the accident occurred.
In instances such as these when you didn’t have a passenger yet, drivers will receive limited liability coverage in this instance. It would consist of $50,000 injury per person up to $100,000 and $25,000 in property damage, per Uber’s insurance policy. However, for any other types of coverage, it would revert back to the driver’s own insurance policy.
However, if the driver is in route to pick up a passenger, then he or she could be entitled to Uber’s massive $1 million insurance policy.
The driver will have to prove that he or she was on the way to pick up a passenger. But that’s usually easy to do because if the app is on in the background, then it tracks the driver’s movements and where he or she is headed.
Will You Get $1 Million?
Just because Uber, Lyft or another ride-sharing service has a $1 million coverage policy doesn’t automatically mean that’s how much you’ll get if you’re injured in an auto accident while using a ride-sharing service.
That just means that their policy will cover up to that amount. So, if you had extensive injuries, you could end up getting hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover your medical expenses and pay for any other punitive damages.
Lyft and Uber Lawsuit or Settlement
If you’ve been injured in a ride-sharing accident, then it’s essential that you retain the services of a ridesharing accident lawyer immediately.
While some types of Uber and Lyft accidents might seem like clean-cut cases, that doesn’t mean that the companies won’t attempt to dispute them if they think they can get away with it.
A ridesharing accident lawyer can evaluate the circumstances surrounding your case and help you determine how much you’re entitled to under the law.
Likewise, an Uber accident attorney or Lyft accident lawyer knows all the laws pertaining to ride-sharing accidents and liability. They make it a point to stay up to date on all the latest laws governing these types of companies so that they can help secure their clients the most favorable settlements.
Most of the time, personal injury cases are settled outside the courtroom. But you need an attorney who is willing to fight aggressively for your rights in a courtroom if need be in case of a lawsuit involving the ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft.
You’ll also want an attorney who has the negotiation skills to secure you the most favorable settlement for your injuries. Because most personal injury attorneys work on a contingency basis, you can be assured that your lawyer will be working as hard as he or she can to secure you the highest settlement possible because if you don’t get paid, then he or she doesn’t get paid.
Personal injury attorneys usually don’t charge anything upfront. Instead, they usually charge a fee that’s a percentage of your entire settlement, such as 30% of whatever your settlement is. This makes it so that you can afford to hire an attorney and provides you with the peace of mind that the lawyer is working as hard as he or she can to secure you a settlement.
If you’ve been injured in an Uber or Lyft accident and want to seek compensation for your injuries, contact an attorney today. Hope this information about the ride-sharing services insurance policies and Lyft/Uber lawsuit or settlement helps you.
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It’s good to know that requesting referrals is a good idea. My parents were talking about how they wanted to start making a trust a couple of weeks ago, and that they want legal help. I’ll have to let them know these tips as they search for a trust attorney to work with.