Injured in a Lyft Accident?

Being injured, either as a passenger during a Lyft ride or being hit by a Lyft operator, can be a scary and confusing experience, or lead you to not know where to turn. Who is responsible when it comes to insurance? If your driver was negligent and caused the accident and your injury, is that driver liable for your medical expenses? The personal injury attorneys at Altman & Altman LLP can provide these answers for you.

Ride sharing services like Lyft provide a valuable service in reducing drunk driving and providing alternatives to public transit, and may also one day help significantly reduce our carbon footprint by reducing the number of total cars on the road.

However Lyft has also very recently exploded in popularity in just the past few years, and while the technology and job opportunities are certainly exciting, there are a lot of gray areas legally – especially when it comes to dealing with the result of an accident.

Lyft categorizes their drivers as independent contractors, and not employees, so the company is not on the hook for a lawsuit every time there is an accident involving one of their drivers – and estimates have recorded there to be over 100,000 Lyft contractors on the road of the United States at any given time.

These contractors are protected from accidents which are their fault and result in injuries by a commercial insurance policy from the moment they accept a ride until the ride is completed. When they are in between rides, but still actively seeking riders, they are covered by a policy which provides up to $50,000 per person injured in an accident to go towards their medical expenses, $100,000 in total liability per accident and up to $25,000 in property damage per accident.

Although there are policies in place which outline how things should be handled on paper, at Altman & Altman we understand that things do not always play out so cleanly.

Perhaps you were a pedestrian walking in Boston and were hit by a Lyft driver who was in between rides, and your ensuing medical expenses surpass both the company’s insurance and the driver’s insurance? What if the driver illicitly failed to maintain their insurance and don’t have any coverage to help cover your medical costs? How will you make up for the expenses left over after the insurance payments are handled?

What if you are a passenger in a car that is struck by a negligent Lyft operator, but the driver claims you are at fault? What if Lyft believes the driver’s story and is reluctant or unwilling to pay their required amount in insurance, as they would most certainly be financially inclined to do so for their own benefit.

The only way to ensure that you are not taken advantage of, and the only way you can guarantee that the insurance process is handled correctly and to your satisfaction is to hire a competent and experienced personal injury attorney. At Altman & Altman, we have over 50 years of working with insurance companies and fighting on behalf of our clients who are injured by negligent drivers.

Our experience handling claims of the past make us uniquely suited to handle the claims of the future, and these types of claims will only become more prevalent as the popularity of these types of services becomes more widespread.

We offer free consultations to go over the details of your unique case, so call today at 617.492.3000 or toll-free at 800.481.6199. We are available 24/7.