The fast growth of firms offering ride share services such as Lyft and Uber has had some unintended effects since tens of thousands of people have been wounded in vehicle accidents involving personal automobiles that are used for business purposes. The New York metropolitan region has been especially badly struck by ride-sharing collisions; the number of such events has more than quadrupled in only two years. This increase in accidents might be a result of the increased utilization of Uber, Lyft, and Juno in New York.
If you have been involved in a rideshare vehicular accident, it may well be prudent to consult with an attorney regarding your basic rights and choices. Whether it is through the fault driver or the ridesharing business, you should be compensated fairly for your injuries.
Underlying Reason Why Compensation Is Challenging in New York
If somehow the at-fault chauffeur is just a rideshare independent contractor, obtaining proper remuneration for your injuries may very well be challenging. If the at-fault motorist is an Uber or Lyft operator, you may also have difficulty obtaining the assistance you require. You should really be able to seek reimbursement from the ridesharing insurance company. Uber and Lyft are essentially accountable for the activities of their drivers when responding to a ride request. There has already been a record of rejecting claims due to the fact that these businesses just link drivers and consumers and don’t even own or train car drivers.
Standard Insurance Coverage In A Ride-Sharing Accident
According to New York State’s Article 44-B Section 1693, Transportation Network Companies like Lyft and Uber are required to offer the following insurance in the case of an accident:
Minimal level of $75,000 per rider plus $150,000 per incident whenever a Lyft or Uber driver logs into the rideshare app and accepts transport requests.
A baseline of $1,000,000 to every passenger travel, beginning with the acceptance of the trip and ending with the passenger’s drop-off point.
Things To Do When Injured in A Ride Share Accident
Considering the service’s success as well as the prevalence of ride-sharing throughout the larger New York metropolitan region, the risk of this kind of accident is increasing daily. Although it may appear straightforward to know what to do after being wounded in a private auto accident, this is not the situation for ridesharing crashes, since the appropriate steps are not that well established.
In some aspects, a rideshare collision should not be any different from a collision between two private drivers. Whether you’re a ridesharing passenger or a passenger in some other car, there are numerous things you may do to safeguard your rights, including contacting California ride share accident lawyers:
Contact the authorities and stay on the scene of the collision.
Ascertain that your name and contact details are included in the police report and see to it that you get a copy of the police report for your personal files.
Gather contact information including insurance details from all parties involved, as well as eyewitness contact details.
Take photographs of the cars involved in the collision, the crash scene, the drivers, including your injuries, and seek medical care and treatment for any wounds as soon as possible.
Contact an expert ridesharing lawyer in New York City to review your claim.
You may be compensated for your injuries by the at-fault driver. By retaining competent rideshare accident lawyers, they will fight for the appropriate compensation that covers not just your urgent medical expenditures, but also possible healthcare expenditures, lost earnings, and even agony and suffering.
Consult A New York Ridesharing Car Accident Lawyer
If you have been harmed in a rideshare automobile accident, it might be beneficial to consult a lawyer regarding your legal protections and choices. Whether it’s from the guilty driver or perhaps the ridesharing business, you should be compensated fairly for your injuries. There are skilled attorneys who are committed to pursuing justice and will do all possible legal means to preserve your best interests and defend your rights. They will fight relentlessly to ensure that both you and your family members receive justice to the utmost degree permitted by law.
Questions to Ask When Looking For A Ride Share Lawyer
In the event that you speak with an attorney in person and over the phone regarding a prospective Uber/Lyft passenger injury claim, the following are some points to cover.
• How many months or years has the lawyer been practicing in cases involving rideshare accidents?
• How much of the attorney’s profession is comprised of personal injury cases? Has the attorney handled additional vehicle accident claims in general, or specifically litigation involving Lyft or Uber drivers?
• Is the lawyer more frequently a plaintiff or a defendant? You generally do not want to be defended by a lawyer who has handled personal injury matters but has largely acted as a defense attorney. Advocating for injured plaintiffs is far different from assisting a client in avoiding culpability at all costs.
• Will the attorney personally handle your suit or will he or she just refer it to another who might be a less experienced attorney in the office? It is customary for an office to have many attorneys working on the same case and to delegate mundane chores to less skilled lawyers (possibly paralegals and many others). However, you should ascertain who will have the main role for your lawsuit and with whom you will be interacting personally.
• How will the lawyer’s fees and costs be reimbursable? Personal injury attorneys are often compensated only when the plaintiff obtains restitution via a settlement or trial, then they often receive a percentage of the total amount. Expenses are often deducted from that money as well, yet you’ll need to clarify this and determine if they’ll be deducted from the total sum, the attorney’s split, or your split.
• Bear in mind any particular needs you may have, as well as any practical considerations. For instance, may you profit from the services of an attorney who is able to communicate in a different language? If you anticipate seeing the lawyer on a regular basis, is the attorney’s office reasonably convenient and accessible through public transit, if that is how you commute?
