How to Sue Uber in Pennsylvania

Filing a personal injury lawsuit against the person or the company that hurt you is often a necessary step towards recovering the compensation you deserve. Suing Uber after a car accident involving one of their drivers is no exception.

How to sue Uber, though, is not straightforward. Their business model was designed to insulate the company from the wrongdoing and the negligence of their drivers. Overcoming these obstacles is not easy, and often takes the help of a personal injury lawyer from The Brod Law Office.

How You Usually Sue Company Drivers

Typically, if a company driver is found to be at fault for the accident, liability for the costs of the crash extends through the driver and to the company that employs them. After all, it is the company that is getting the most benefit out of the driver's presence on the road, and the driver is only doing what their boss is telling them to do.

The law recognizes the connection between the company and the individual driver and will hold the company accountable for the driver's negligence unless there are signs that the driver was not on-the-clock or was doing something beyond his or her job description.

Why Suing Uber is Different

Suing Uber after a crash involving their drivers is different. Unlike other companies, Uber classifies its drivers as independent contractors rather than as employees. While companies are legally responsible for the negligence of their employees, they are not liable for the costs that come from the negligence of their independent contractors.

How to Sue for Compensation After an Uber Crash

Therefore, the process of filing a personal injury lawsuit and recovering the compensation you need and deserve will be different if the car accident that hurt you was caused by an Uber driver. Instead of filing the lawsuit against both the driver and the company, you would file the claim against just the Uber driver who caused the crash. If the accident happened while the Uber driver had a passenger in the car or was on their way to pick one up, copies of the lawsuit would be sent to the insurance company that Uber provides for these circumstances.

Alongside the lawsuit, you will also want to send a Spoliation Letter to both Uber and the driver that caused the crash. These letters tell the driver and Uber to preserve the evidence and data related to your trip. If Uber deletes the data in spite of the terms of the Spoliation Letter, it could lead to another lawsuit against Uber.

Where Compensation is Likely to Come From After a Crash

Because it is so difficult to impute liability onto Uber for car accidents caused by its driver, the reality is that the compensation you are likely to receive will come from the insurance companies at play. This means that the exact time that the accident happened will have a huge influence on the coverage that you can rely on for compensation.

Only if the accident happened while the Uber driver had a passenger in the vehicle or was on the way to pick one up will you be able to count on the extensive insurance policy that Uber maintains.

Situations Where You Could Sue Uber

There are several ridesharing circumstances that can leave you hurt and in need of compensation:

You are a passenger in an Uber vehicle and get hurt in a crash;
You are not a passenger in the Uber vehicle and you get hurt in a crash; and
You are a passenger in the Uber, and the Uber driver assaults you.

The first two situations involve the Uber driver's negligence and will implicate the insurance companies of the Uber driver, Uber's policy, and the victim's coverage.

The third circumstance, on the other hand, is the result of intentional or even criminal conduct. As a result, insurance companies will almost certainly refuse to cover the costs of the incident. These cases are tricky because recovering the full amount of compensation that you deserve will usually require implicating Uber in the lawsuit by showing that they hired someone to drive a car that was a known risk to passengers.

Why You Need a Lawyer from The Brod Law Office

Suing Uber for compensation after being hurt by their driver is a tricky endeavor. Uber has structured its business to insulate itself from these very claims, leaving victims uncared for so the company can pad its bottom line. The personal injury lawyers at The Brod Law Office in Pennsylvania will work to hold them accountable.