Can You Sue Uber if You Get Injured in an Accident?

Experiencing injury due to a vehicular accident is difficult no matter what types of drivers are involved or who is at fault for the accident. When working through the details and getting your bills paid, your goal is always to walk away whole again.

Uber ensures its drivers have adequate insurance when they are active in the app. Ideally, you’ll be able to call upon that insurance policy to get your bills paid by filing a claim and without having to go through the lengthy and sometimes painful lawsuit process.

Personal injury lawsuits take time and can be stress-inducing, which you don’t need when you’re recovering from injuries. The best way to settle an Uber accident claim is through negotiations. If those fail, then you can file a lawsuit against Uber if you suffered injury as a passenger or third party involved in an accident with an Uber driver.

Determining Liability in an Uber Accident

Knowing whether you can claim compensation from Uber after you sustain an injury in an accident or not comes down to liability.

These accidents tend to be more complicated than everyday car accidents because they involve more than just determining which driver was negligent. You’ll also need to determine the Uber driver’s status at the time of the accident.

The driver can have any one of these statuses.

• Online, awaiting a passenger or trip request: Uber commercial policy is active with $50,000 in injury liability per person involved with a total of $100,000 total liability for personal injury. The coverage also provides $25,000 in property damage liability per accident.

 

• Drivers with a passenger or when the driver has accepted a ride request: greater commercial insurance applies in these cases with a total of $1 million in liability coverage.

 

• Inactive drivers who are not online in the Uber app: just because you see an Uber window cling or some other indication that the driver operates for the rideshare company does not mean that Uber’s commercial insurance policy will apply to the accident. If the driver is not online actively awaiting his or her next passenger, that driver’s personal insurance policy applies. This is a classic vehicle collision and will work just like any other accident where you’ll exchange information with the driver and file your claim under their insurance policy.

 

Once you’ve determined the Uber driver’s status, you’ll also need to evaluate negligence in the accident. Negligence is the process of evaluating which driver was not following the law or paying as much attention to other motorists as they should have been.

 

Why You Should Hire a Virginia Car Accident Attorney Immediately, Even if You Never File a Lawsuit

Virginia has a pure contributory negligence rule, which means that the other driver must be entirely at fault for the accident for you to collect monetary damages.

So even once you’ve proven that the other driver was at fault for the accident, if you are even 1% at fault for the accident you cannot recover anything. 

This is a big reason why working with a personal injury attorney who understands Uber accidents is important. Your attorney will present evidence against the Uber driver, while also protecting you from liability for the accident to ensure you can protect your ability to pursue financial damages for the accident.

Working with an attorney will also help you during settlement negotiations. If these negotiations go well, you won’t have to worry about filing a formal lawsuit. You’ll settle outside of court, get your money quickly, and can move on much faster than you would if you were to file a lawsuit against Uber.

Learn More With a Free Consultation

Navigating the legalities of the aftermath of an Uber accident is challenging. Geoff McDonald & Associates has a team of attorneys who can protect your rights and help you get back to where you were before an Uber accident. Contact us to learn more about our strategies for Uber accident victims.