Call Us: What To Do If I Get into An Accident Riding An Uber?
If you have been in an accident while riding an Uber, you should act quickly to make sure that get compensated for your injuries. Our rideshare injury attorneys at Megeredchian law know just what it takes to make sure that our clients get top-rated legal care.
Unfortunately, accidents while riding a taxi, Uber, or Lyft, are very common in California. Uber accident lawsuits could be very complex, which is why you must get high-rated legal help on your side.
What should I do after an accident in an Uber in Los Angeles?
- After you have been involved in an accident while riding an Uber, you must call 911 immediately. Medical providers should arrive at the scene and evaluate all parties to determine if anybody has suffered any severe injuries. For example, traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries should be treated right away.
- Take photos of where the accident occurred. This is very helpful, especially when piecing together how the road or street design may have caused the accident.
- Take down the information of all parties involved. Key pieces of information you will need include pictures of the driver’s license and insurance information.
- If any witnesses may have seen the accident, make sure you get down the witness information. Sometimes, it could get very difficult to get a hold of witnesses, especially months after an accident.
- After you have been involved in an Uber accident, you should report the accident to Uber. When the ride concludes, it will ask for your rating. When you are asked for your rating, there will then be a section that pops up where you can report how the accident occurred. Uber’s insurance companies or agents will then reach out to you.
- You mustn’t speak to any insurance company or Uber agent after the accident without speaking to an attorney first. Agents may try to reach out to you to get a statement. This may be too soon, and we recommend that you refrain from giving any statements until you have spoken to our attorneys.
- Contact our car accident attorneys for more information on how you could recover compensation. Recovering compensation will vary depending on the accident and the injuries you have suffered.
Who is responsible for my Uber accident in California?
If you are a passenger during the ride, you most likely may not be at fault for the accident. Instead, the Uber driver may be found responsible for the accident. In other cases, there may be another third-person driver who is found responsible for the car accident. In any event, as a passenger, you have the right to recover compensation for your damages.
Can I file a lawsuit against Uber?
- In some cases, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the Uber company. This depends on how the employee is categorized. For example, there are two different types of categories of employees in California. The first is an independent contractor, who decides their hours and may not have benefits provided by the company. In other cases, the employee may be classified as a regular employee under California law and may be covered by their employer.
- Under California law, companies are responsible for their employees under a legal theory called respond yet superior. This legal theory holds companies responsible for the negligent actions of their employees. In this case, if the Uber driver was negligent and caused the accident during the scope of their employment while the app was activated, then you may be able to file a lawsuit against Uber.
- Although some Uber drivers may be considered independent contractors, uber may still be held responsible themselves because they are considered a transportation company under California law. Transportation companies are held responsible for the negligent actions of their employees. For more information on holding Uber or Lyft responsible for your accident, give our Los Angeles experienced attorneys a call today to discuss your rideshare accident experience.
Can I file a lawsuit against the Uber driver?
In some cases, you may want to recover damages from the Uber drivers themselves rather than the Uber company. If you were a passenger in an Uber, and the Uber driver caused the accident, you could file an independent lawsuit against the driver. You could also file a claim with their insurance company. But, the steps you take differ depending on the circumstances of the accident. We recommend that you speak to our car accident attorneys before taking any steps after being involved in an accident.
Could I hold other drivers responsible?
The first step after an accident is the determine the cause of the accident, and who the responsible party is. Uber accidents could get complex since there may be multiple parties involved. It could also take a while to track down all the parties, and piece together how the accident happened. This is where our attorneys will step in and take charge of your case. We will investigate the accident and determine who the liable parties are.
In some cases, third parties could be responsible. For example, this may include:
- Government entities: if the accident was caused by a flaw or negligent design of a street or roadway, then the government entity may be held responsible for causing the accident.
- Vehicle manufacturer: if a defect in the Uber vehicle, or the third party vehicle caused an accident, then the vehicle manufacturer may be held responsible under a defective products liability lawsuit. Product liability lawsuits require other facts to be proven, and we recommend you discuss with our Los Angeles product liability attorneys to go into more specifics of your case.
- Third-party drivers: this is the case when another vehicle collides with the Uber vehicle.
What are the insurance limits in an Uber accident in California?
There are insurance limits that Uber covers up to depending on the time of the incident. It is categorized into three different categories.
When the driver is not logged in
When the driver is not logged in and an accident occurs, the driver or passenger could only recover from the driver’s car insurance.
When the driver is logged in, but no ride has begun
If an accident occurs when the driver is logged into the app, but has not yet begun the ride and picked up the passenger, Uber’s insurance policy limits will cover up to $50,000 of bodily injury and $30,000 of property damage.
When the driver is logged in, and a ride has begun
If an accident occurs when the driver is logged into the app and has picked up the passenger, Uber insurance will provide drivers with up to 1 million dollars in auto insurance coverage.
Contact Our Hit-And-Run Attorneys Today
Our attorneys are available to help you every step of the way. Give us a call today to discuss more in-depth how you could recover compensation. The compensation you could recover varies depending on what exactly you have suffered. For example, you could recover lost wages, any future lost income, property damage, medical expenses, and pain and suffering.