If an Uber or Lyft driver caused your crash or you were hurt while riding as a passenger, your route to a lawsuit might be complex. New Jersey has a few laws that restrict lawsuits for car accidents in the first place, plus special rules for rideshare drivers that might make it harder to file a lawsuit.
When lawsuits are available, you can bring them directly against the driver. Uber and Lyft themselves are not always available targets for your lawsuit, though they may be responsible when they fail to properly vet drivers for safety. In any case, damages are usually available, whether through a lawsuit or an insurance claim.
For help with your potential claim, call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C.’s New Jersey car accident lawyers at (201) 777-1111.
Can You Sue for an Uber or Lyft Accident in NJ?
There are some conditions to meet before you can even file a car accident lawsuit in NJ:
NJ’s No-Fault Rules
In New Jersey, we use a choice no-fault system for insurance that blocks drivers and passengers from suing unless they meet either of these conditions:
- They suffered serious injuries in the crash, including displaced fractures, loss of limb, serious scarring, permanent injuries, etc.
- The insurance policy has an “unlimited right to sue” option.
These rules affect drivers, who have control over their policies and can choose whether to keep the limited right to sue option or pay a higher premium for an unlimited right to sue. However, these rules also affect passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists, who may be required to prove serious injuries before they can sue.
Can You Sue as a Passenger?
If you were a rider in an Uber or Lyft, our East Orange NJ car accident lawyers can help you sue. There is no restriction on filing a lawsuit just because you were a passenger.
You do still have to meet the serious injury threshold or be covered under an unlimited right to sue policy, but there is nothing stopping you from suing for damages as a passenger.
Who Do You Sue?
The second complicated threshold for suing in an Uber/Lyft crash is figuring out who to sue. All of these parties are potential targets of your lawsuit, and we must look at the facts of your case to determine which one (or ones) to sue:
Uber or Lyft
Uber and Lyft say that their drivers are not employees, but rather independent contractors. If this holds true, then you cannot sue them for the driver’s mistakes, as you can only sue an “employer” for accidents their employees cause while working.
That means you can only sue in limited situations where the rideshare company directly shares liability. This is possible in cases where they did not properly vet or screen drivers and hired a driver they should have known had a history of serious driving violations or assault.
Your Driver
If you were a passenger in an Uber/Lyft vehicle (or in any other car), then you would sue your driver if they caused the crash.
Another Driver
Even when you are a rideshare passenger, the crash might not be your Uber/Lyft driver’s fault. If another driver caused the crash, you would sue them instead.
Should You Sue or File an Insurance Claim for an Uber/Lyft Accident?
You should check with an attorney about whether a lawsuit is the right option in the first place. In many cases, Uber and Lyft have insurance to cover accidents, and they are typically quite willing to settle so that they do not have to take cases to court.
If their insurance can cover your damages in full or you max out their policy limits with your damages, then there would be nothing further to get in a lawsuit. Especially if we cannot sue Uber or Lyft directly and the individual driver cannot pay out of pocket beyond policy limits, there is no benefit to a lawsuit.
In these cases, a settlement with insurance is often enough to cover your case in full, but we can look into lawsuits when needed.
The Process of Suing
When you actually file your lawsuit, you do so against the at-fault driver in most cases. This is done by filing the proper paperwork and a “complaint” in the right courthouse and serving the defendant with a copy. Our lawyers take care of all of the drafting and filing for you.
From there, cases will involve motions and legal questions that we can brief the court on, argue before the court, and move forward with. Eventually, we will get to discovery, where we depose witnesses and exchange evidence with the other side.
Judges will typically push both sides to try to reach a settlement agreement, and most cases will ultimately settle before trial. However, if we cannot settle or they refuse to pay the full damages, we can take them to trial.
Suing Impostor Drivers in Uber or Lyft Cars
Many “Uber drivers” and “Lyft drivers” are totally unknown to the companies they supposedly work for. Sometimes, drivers with a history of driving offenses, drunk driving, or vehicular assault will get someone else to sign up to be an Uber/Lyft driver, then they will drive in their place. Others use fake IDs to get their jobs.
Can You Sue Uber/Lyft for Fake Drivers?
This is patently against Uber/Lyft’s policies, but it is up to the company to enforce this, not you. It may be possible to get some damages from Uber/Lyft itself in these cases since they failed to properly screen the driver they matched you with.
Always check that the driver in the car matches the driver your app says should be picking you up. Report any impostor drivers to help protect yourself and others.
Can You Sue the Fake Driver?
If we cannot sue Uber/Lyft, we can always help you go after the driver directly. Many “fake” Uber/Lyft drivers only fake their accounts with the rideshare app because they would not otherwise qualify for the job. They still must have insurance to drive in NJ, and it could potentially still cover your injuries.
Even if they were a fake Uber/Lyft driver, they were still really driving the car when the crash happened, so they should still be responsible.
Call Our Lawyers for Uber and Lyft Accidents in New Jersey Today
For help with your potential case, call Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C.’s New Jersey Uber and Lyft accident lawyers at (201) 777-1111 today.