If you get hurt in an Uber/Lyft accident in Ridgewood or anywhere in Queens, our lawyers can help you. Insurance companies from Uber and Lyft will often seek to settle cases so that they do not have to go to court over the crash, but they might not be willing to pay full price.
Our attorneys can help you understand what your case is worth, fight for full compensation, and even take the defendants to court if needed. There are complications with suing for a rideshare crash, so it is important to work with a law firm that knows what it is doing.
Call The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083 for your free case review with our rideshare accident lawyers for Uber and Lyft today.
Can I Sue for an Uber or Lyft Accident in Ridgewood?
When you get into a car accident, a lawsuit is not always available, but even if you cannot sue, our rideshare accident lawyers for Uber and Lyft can still potentially get your damages paid.
Serious Injury Threshold
Before a car accident victim can file a lawsuit, New York’s no-fault insurance rules require them to have a “serious injury.” This term is defined to include permanent and serious injuries, like amputation or permanent lost function. However, it also includes broken bones and any injury causing a disability for 90 of the following 180 days.
Death and loss of a fetus are also always “serious injuries,” allowing the family to file lawsuits.
This threshold rule applies to passengers, drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. That means no matter who you were in the accident – another driver, a rideshare rider, or someone else on the street – you cannot sue unless your injuries meet this threshold.
Suing the Right Parties
Once you pass this threshold, you need to choose the right party to sue. If you were in another vehicle, walking on foot, or riding a bike, and you were hit by a rideshare driver, you would typically sue them. However, passengers/riders might have a case against the rideshare driver and/or the other driver, given that either of them might be at fault or the two might even share fault.
Can You Sue Uber or Lyft for a Crash?
Typically, Uber and Lyft will have their insurance settle cases before they ever get to a lawsuit. This prevents their legal theories from being tested – but if you ask Uber and Lyft, they would say they cannot be sued.
This is because they claim their drivers are independent contractors. That makes them basically self-employed. You can only sue an employer for what its employees do, so by claiming their drivers are not their employees, they would be able to avoid a lawsuit.
This does still allow lawsuits in some cases, such as when the rideshare company’s failure to properly screen a dangerous driver out of the system is to blame for your crash. However, suing these companies is often difficult.
Getting Money from Uber or Lyft’s Insurance
As mentioned, these companies carry insurance that covers many crashes. On top of this, all drivers are required to carry insurance to cover crashes in the first place. This means that you are often covered by multiple policies after a crash in Ridgewood.
First, your driver has to have no-fault insurance. Whether you were a rider using the Uber/Lyft driver’s insurance or you were in another car using your own insurance, this will provide initial relief on a no-fault basis.
Second, Uber and Lyft have additional coverage that often pays for crashes anytime a rider is in the car. This also covers drivers on the way picking up a rider, which can help cover people the driver hits.
Crashes with on-duty drivers looking for riders may also get additional coverage the rideshare company pays. Off-duty drivers pay for crashes out of their own liability insurance like any other driver.
Remember that, because we have a no-fault system, some policies cover you before you even need to prove fault or prove serious injuries.
Getting Pain and Suffering for Rideshare Accidents in Ridgewood
Pain and suffering damages are not typically paid through no-fault insurance. This means you can only get this when you file a claim against the at-fault driver’s liability insurance.
This claim has the same restrictions as a lawsuit and can only be filed when you have serious injuries. When you meet this threshold, you can file against the at-fault driver’s insurance, whether that is Uber or Lyft’s policy or the driver’s own rideshare driving policy.
Pain and suffering damages are often calculated in one of two ways. The first uses a multiplier based on the severity of your injuries and multiplies your other damages by that number. The other uses a per-day method calculated based on your income and multiplies that by the number of days you faced pain and suffering.
How Much is My Case Worth?
Calculating the full value of your case requires looking into more than just how severe your injuries were, overall. Specific damages for medical expenses, lost wages, and other reasonable expenses related to the accident can also be claimed.
Owning a car in the City is not very popular, so rideshare accident victims in Queens are probably going to be riders rather than other drivers. Even so, property damage/vehicle repair costs can also be claimed for cyclists, motorcyclists, and drivers alike.
Our focus, however, is on your injuries, and any expenses tied to those injuries, as well as the pain and suffering and other “non-economic” damages you should claim.
What to Do After a Rideshare Accident
If you were involved in a rideshare accident, collect as much evidence as you can at the scene. Take pictures if you are able to, and collect the insurance and contact info for any drivers as well as the contact info of any witnesses.
Call 911 and report the accident so that police can respond to write up a report and an ambulance can respond to treat any injuries. Always go to the hospital and get further treatment if the EMTs recommend doing so.
In the days following your crash, get in touch with an attorney.
Call Our Rideshare Accident Lawyers in Ridgewood Today
For an accident in Ridgewood, Queens, call The Carrion Law Firm’s rideshare accident lawyers for Uber and Lyft at (718) 841-0083.
