Rideshare services like Lyft and Uber are transportation staples today. Unfortunately, the people you trust to manage a rideshare vehicle don’t always have your best interest at heart. Whether you’re a passenger or another motorist, you can fall victim to accidents caused by a rideshare driver’s negligence.
What are you supposed to do if you get into an accident with a rideshare driver? The state of Indiana affords you the right to file a personal injury claim either against the relevant rideshare corporation or driver. You can work with Crawfordsville car accident lawyers through Vaughan & Vaughan to demand damages for your losses.
Should You File a Personal Injury Claim After a Rideshare Accident?
You are not obligated to pursue a personal injury claim after a rideshare accident. Doing so, however, has its benefits. Filing a rideshare accident claim specifically allows you to demand damages for your accident’s losses. This means you can demand financial compensation from the parties directly responsible for your medical bills and property damage.
Personal injury claims also allow you to exercise an additional degree of control over your rideshare accident recovery. When you have a case to defend, you ensure that your perspective on your losses gets heard by all parties involved in your accident. This way, neither police officers nor rideshare drivers and their corporations have sole control over your case’s narrative.
What’s more, Vaughan & Vaughan offers you rideshare accident representation on contingency. This means that you won’t have to worry about any case-relevant legal fees while your case progresses. Our Crawfordsville rideshare accident attorneys only get paid if we win your case. You can discuss our contingency fee agreements during an initial case consultation.
You Have a Limited Amount of Time to Act on Rideshare Accident Losses
If you do decide to move forward with a rideshare complaint, make sure you do so within Indiana’s personal injury statute of limitations. Indiana Code section 34-11-2-4 states that accident survivors like you must bring their claims forward within two years of their initial accident.
You may not take more than two years to file your claim against Lyft, the corporation, or an independent driver. Indiana believes that cases filed after that two-year deadline no longer allow relevant evidence to accurately reflect the nature of the accident in question. If you try to file your claim after your statute of limitations expires, your case may be denied.
Fortunately, you’re not the only one investigating your losses. Whether you’re contending with life-changing injuries or want to trust your representation to a court-experienced attorney, Vaughan & Vaughan’s team can prioritize your filing deadline.
Your Case Will Get
The Attention It Deserves
How to Compose a Rideshare Accident Claim
If you decide to move forward with a rideshare accident claim, you need to ensure that said claim comprehensively describes your accident and desired compensation.
Evidence Helps Determine Liability
Evidence plays a key role in today’s rideshare accident cases. You must bring forward evidence of a liable party’s alleged negligence if you want to qualify for the right to pursue a personal injury case against the offending party. The evidence you bring forward to prove negligence after a rideshare accident can include:
- Statements from bystanders who witnessed the accident
- App data from a relevant rideshare app
- Videos or photos of your accident
- Social media statements regarding your accident
- Statements from expert witnesses, including medical professionals and police officers
It’s our job to take this hard data and integrate it into a complaint that accurately details the nature of your accident and your subsequent right to compensation.
Your Desired Compensation
Your complaint also needs to provide a judge and jury with an estimate of the damages you believe you deserve after a rideshare accident. The losses you can integrate into that estimate can include:
- Emotional distress and/or mental anguish
- Pain and suffering
- Lost or damaged property
- Wages lost throughout your recovery
- Emergency medical treatment
- Long-term medical treatment
If a rideshare accident causes someone you care about to pass unexpectedly, you may have the right to either demand wrongful death damages or pursue a separate wrongful death claim on their behalf. You can discuss your right to this kind of action with the attorneys at Vaughan & Vaughan.
There is no fee
unless you win
Company or Driver: Who to Hold Liable
While evidence of negligence remains a defining factor in today’s rideshare accident cases, it’s not the only force you have to consider when determining who to hold liable for your losses. The contracts between rideshare drivers and relevant corporations also play a role in determining who bears the fault for a rideshare accident.
Both Uber and Lyft offer certain protections to drivers they consider to be on duty. If a driver has passengers in the car or is on their way to pick up passengers while using a relevant rideshare app, that driver constitutes an active employee. In turn, Lyft and Uber can take responsibility for any accidents that the driver causes.
That said, Uber and Lyft want to protect their bottom lines and stay out of court. As such, the requirements a driver has to meet for these companies to consider them on duty are strict. If you get into an accident with an off-duty driver, you must name that individual liable for your losses in the complaint you take before a judge.
You can let a rideshare accident attorney in Crawfordsville dissect the contracts relevant to your case before assigning a particular party responsible for your losses.
Let a Rideshare Accident Lawyer Outline Your Rights
Parsing liability in rideshare accidents can prove challenging, even when your accident seems cut and dry. Don’t force yourself to learn the basics of contract law. Let an attorney do the heavy lifting instead. Vaughan & Vaughan can investigate your losses, break down a liable driver’s contract, and help you file a personal injury claim against the right party.
Are you ready to meet with a rideshare accident lawyer in Crawfordsville? Don’t let your case’s statute of limitations expire. You can schedule a free, no-obligation case evaluation with our team today. Contact us online or by phone to get your appointment on the books.
