Accidents are very common even if none wants it. An accident can happen at any time. According to the law, you have the scope to seek compensation from the liable party for an accident. So, in the case of a road accident, you can ask for compensation if the other vehicle is responsible for the accident.
However, things are different when you’re a passenger in a rideshare service. Everything is complex here, and each rideshare company has its policies about accidents.
So, handling such a case can be a burden for you. You need to go through the law of the state and the terms and conditions of the company. Also, you have to prepare many documents.
In this situation, a rideshare accident attorney can help you. As terms are different in different companies, you might need help from an attorney having experience with the specific rideshare company.
You’ll find everything you should know about hiring a Lyft accident attorney here.
What to Do After a Lyft Accident?
If You’re Injured
After an accident, check yourself first for any injury. In case you’re injured, seek help from people around you. Take yourself out of the vehicle as soon as possible with their help.
Use your mobile phone to call the emergency service or ambulance. Also, call someone and tell them the location so that they can come to rescue you.
If You’re not Injured
In case you’re not that badly injured, check others. Take yourself out of the vehicle and check everyone’s condition. Take them out of the car and lay them in an open place.
If anyone is heavily injured, call an ambulance. Otherwise, call law enforcement.
In case of an accident between two vehicles and the other one is damaged too, check the passengers and driver of that vehicle. Bring them out in the open air too.
Talk to the drivers if they’re in a situation to talk. Ask them what actually happened just before the accident. Also, talk to people around you to know if they’ve seen anything.
Information from eyewitnesses will be required during the case. So, collect the contact information of the witnesses. Also, collect the driving license information of both drivers. Have some pictures of the place and the damage using your mobile phone.
Go to the hospital and take others with you if needed. Save the receipts and bills because those will be needed to calculate the compensation.
How does a Lyft Accident Attorney Help You?
As Lyft accidents differ from common car accidents, you need someone specialized. A Lyft accident attorney can help you in that case. Below are the most common ways hiring a Lyft accident attorney can help you.
- Attorneys specified in Lyft accidents can help you well because they know the differences a regular car accident and a Lyft accident have. So, they can help you to know the exact way you need to follow.
- Someone with experience in handling Lyft accidents specifically knows all the current rules and terms of the company about accidents.
- Accidents can happen for several reasons. An attorney with experience of working on accident cases can help you by finding out the exact reason behind the accident and the liable party for it.
- Lyft has its own policies that are tough to crack for a normal person. Attorneys with experience of working on such cases can help you crack the policies and find the gaps to ensure compensation.
- Your Lyft attorney can help you with arranging the necessary documents and following the right procedure for filing the case.
- If you’re driving for Lyft and want compensation from the company, the attorney can help you to know the possible impact of such a claim on your career.
- If you can’t present yourself in court, your attorney can do that for you.
- You and the other party might want to settle it outside the court. In that case, a rideshare accident lawyer can help too. Out-of-court negotiations always try to settle things for less. You’ll have more confidence when an attorney or lawyer is with you. Also, you can claim the appropriate compensation.
Hiring a Lyft attorney can assist you in every step of the lawsuit filing process.
Who is to Blame after a Lyft Accident?
The Driver
In the case of a Lyft accident, your Lyft driver can be a possible liable party for it. The reason can be anything, including- over speeding, driving in the wrong lane, overtaking, reckless driving, etc.
If the vehicle has any technical issue for which the accident might happen, the driver can be sued for that.
The Driver of the Other Vehicle
Irresponsible driving of the other car can cause an accident too. So, the driver of the other vehicle is another liable party. No matter what the cause is, you can sue them.
To keep a trace of the driver, you must collect some information after the accident. Try to collect the information from the driving license, including the license number. If you can’t collect the license, having the vehicle number is okay.
The Company
In ridesharing companies, the drivers are independent. So, the company has the scope to avoid the burden of compensation. But it must take some liabilities if there is any gap in the terms and conditions or maintenance of the drivers and vehicles.
You can blame Lyft for an accident. But, to tackle the policies of the company, you’ll need the assistance of ridesharing accident lawyers.
Any Third Party
A third party can be the reason for the accident. For example, if the accident happens because of trying to stay safe from another reckless vehicle, the faulty person is probably the driver who was driving recklessly.
Authority is responsible if any establishment is the reason for the accident. For example- you can sue government entities for a damaged road. In case an accident has happened for a faulty part of the vehicle, you can file a lawsuit against it.
Types of Compensations Your Lyft Accident Lawyer can Bring
Typically, after a Lyft accident, you might get compensation for two types of damages- economic and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages
These are the damages that you can measure in the amount of money. The most common economic damages are-
- Lost income
- Medical bills
- Cost of therapy and medication
- Lost ability to earn
- Property Damages
- Miscellaneous expenses
Non-economic Damages
These damages can’t be measured in the amount of money. For these damages, the compensation is typically fixed by the court.
Some common non-economic damages are-
- Emotional damages
- Pain and sufferings
- Disability
- Loss of reputation
- Loss of companionship
How to Hire a Rideshare Accident Lawyer?
Hiring a rideshare accident attorney is not a complex process, but you need to invest time and effort in this. Here is the procedure you can use to pick the perfect person to help you with a rideshare accident lawsuit.
Search for Recommendations
At first, collect recommendations from people around you. Your friends or families might know someone who can help with accident cases. Also, you can ask the driving community around you for suggestions.
If you can’t get enough names, search in Google. This will bring you a handful of names of rideshare accident lawyers around you.
Make a list.
Filter the List
All the lawyers or firms on your list won’t help with rideshare accidents. So, you need to filter it and pick the ones that work with rideshare accidents.
You can check their websites to see if they offer such a service. If they don’t have a website or there is no information about this, call them directly.
While checking this, make sure that the firm or lawyer has previous experience of working with the same ridesharing company liable for the accident. Each company has individual policies. So, without prior experience, they might miss important points.
Rank the Selected
After having a list of multiple lawyers who offer the exact service you need, you need to rank them based on reviews. Ask for reviews from your friends and families.
Also, check online reviews. Such reviews can be found on their websites. Also, you might find some websites ranking different services. You can look for reviews on those sites too.
Nowadays, online reviews can be fake. So, try to follow trusted websites.
Rank your selections based on reviews. Pick the top five-six for the next step.
Communicate Them
After ranking and finding the top 5-6 lawyers for you, you need to communicate with them directly.
Call them and discuss your issue shortly. See what they offer. Also, ask for their experience with similar cases.
Collecting information is not the only focus of this step. You need to check your communication skills and see if they seem to be dependable.
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Picking the Right One
After communicating with all the lawyers you’ve ranked, pick the best one based on the service and communication. Hire the one that seems to be most dependable to you.
Keep cost in your mind too. You need to focus on the total cost and payment structure in this case. Multiple payment structures are available in most cases. However, don’t settle for anything that is not comfortable for you.
This process helps you to pick the perfect rideshare accident attorney you need.
How Much does a Lyft Accident Lawyer Cost?
The cost of a Lyft accident lawyer depends on a lot of things. Before that, let’s talk a bit about the payment process.
The most common payment structure in the case of a Lyft accident claim is the percentage structure. In this structure, the lawyer asks for a percentage of the compensation you receive from the claim. It is widely practiced nowadays.
You have a huge advantage in this structure- you won’t have to pay if you don’t get any compensation. Also, if a lawyer agrees to fight your case and asks for a percentage payment, you have a 99% chance of winning the case. The reason is simple- if the lawyer didn’t see a strong possibility, he wouldn’t take the case.
On average, 33% of the compensation is claimed by the lawyers. The typical range here is 30%-40% of the amount you get. Some might charge as low as 25% if the case is simple and doesn’t take much time.
Other structures you’ll see are hourly payment, monthly payment, and fixed payment.
Factors that affect the charge of Lyft accident attorneys are-
- The complexity of the case- If the case is simple, the charge is low. On the other hand. Complex cases need you to spend high.
- Experience of the Lawyer- Experience has a price, you know. While hiring a lawyer, you would have to pay the fee for it. So, experienced lawyers ask for a higher charge.
- Amount of Work- Based on the amount of work needed to do in your case, lawyers fix their charges. Cases with a huge amount of work need you to spend a huge amount of bucks.
- Dwelling Place- In large cities, the cost of lawyers is high. On the other hand, lawyers from small cities charge comparatively lower.
Besides these, several other factors impact the charge of a rideshare accident lawyer.
Additional Costs for Lyft Accident
Besides the cost of the lawyer, you need to bear several other costs while and after filing a lawsuit for compensation for a Lyft accident. The most common costs are-
- Court costs
- Deposition expenses
- Administrative costs, for example- legal research, trial exhibits
- Deposition costs
- Expenditure for the witnesses, for example- transport cost
You need to handle these costs on your own because these are not included in the lawyer’s fee in most cases.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is it okay to proceed with the case without a lawyer?
If you have enough knowledge about filling a case and the courage to represent yourself in court, you can go for it.
In case you think that you’ll go through the way somehow utilizing the help of the internet and other sources, you might get stuck in the middle of the road. Also, this might take a long time. Having a lawyer with you would let you do everything quicker and better.
Also, the other party might ask for negotiation outside the court. In this case, they can suppress you and settle for a less amount. A lawyer won’t let it happen.
Do I have to file the lawsuit immediately?
Filing a lawsuit immediately is not mandatory. You can take time to get a lawyer and analyze the situation and other related issues. Then you can file a lawsuit.
Typically, you have two years before going to court. However, evidence starts to vanish with time. So, you don’t have time to waste. Our suggestion is to file a lawsuit within a week.
Can Lyft avoid the responsibilities it has?
Lyft has enough chances to avoid the responsibilities. The drivers in Lyft are not direct employees. Instead, they are counted as users of the platform. So, Lyft can claim that they won’t compensate for something done by a user of the platform as they are responsible for the actions of their employees only.
But a Lyft accident lawyer can help you with this and get compensation from Lyft using the law. They have the expertise and experience. So, you must go for a lawyer or attorney.