Uber Accident Personal Injury Lawyer New York: The Bronx

Serving New York: The Bronx | Grand Concourse | Riverdale | Pelham | Fordham | Co-op City

Bang! You were riding in an Uber, heading home from a night out, when suddenly there was an accident. It doesn’t matter whose fault it was or how it happened, all you know is that you were wearing your seatbelt, you were disoriented and then you were riding to the hospital in an ambulance. Your safe Uber ride home turned into pain and suffering.

Before going any further, it would be wrong not to acknowledge something important: Uber is generally quite safe. While its accident rates aren’t tracked, Uber’s vehicle death rates are tracked and these are lower than the national baseline. In part, this is because Uber serves urban areas and rides tend to be at lower speeds. Still, accidents do happen and people get hurt.

Although Uber is a multi-billion-dollar company, an Uber Accident Lawyer Bronx NY will caution you not to count on having your case settled quickly and easily. Like many relationships in life, your relationship with Uber, and Uber’s relationship with your driver are more complicated than you think. And collecting money for your injuries, suffering and other losses is not going to be easy.

This is why you need an Uber Accident Lawyer Bronx NY representing your interests. If you’ve been injured in an accident involving a ridesharing company like Uber or Lyft, collecting damages can present as a difficult legal equation involving multiple parties.

There are things to keep in mind that an Uber Accident Lawyer Bronx NY knows: first, accidents involving taxis involve a different legal approach than an accident involving an Uber driver; second, there has been an evolution of laws involving ridesharing companies, as well as frequent changes in the policies of companies like Uber. Often times, those policy changes are buried deep inside the updates when you click “I Agree” to continue using a service.

The driver of the Uber you were riding in may not be solely responsible – your injuries could have been caused by another driver, poor road conditions, defects in the vehicle you were traveling in or any combination of factors. Plus, your Uber driver needed to comply with the company’s guidelines or he is on the hook. This makes it tricky to collect from Uber’s million-dollar driver liability coverage. And like any big company, Uber is likely to aggressively try to deny your claim.

An Uber Accident Lawyer Bronx NY knows that DRIVER STATUS MATTERS! Whether the driver was Offline, Available, En Route, or On Trip can make a tremendous difference in a personal injury case. Uber provides no coverage if the driver is Offline; low liability limits if the driver is Available, and much greater liability coverage if the driver is En Route or On Trip. Determining this requires the kind of investigation that a personal injury attorney can provide.

What can Uber accident scenarios look like?

• You’re a passenger in an Uber and are involved in an accident with another driver. If the other driver is at fault, especially if that driver is uninsured or driving impaired, Uber may try to wash its hands of your case entirely by declaring that it is not responsible for your injuries and try to place the liability on its driver, who is a private contractor, or the other party involved in the accident.
• You’re in your personal car and an Uber driver causes an accident. Although the Uber driver is determined to be at fault, you are facing multiple insurance companies who are not going to act in your best interests and may team up to try to bully and intimidate you. They may partner to minimize their expenses, reduce your compensation, and pressure you to settle on their terms, which isn’t fair to you.

In either instance, if you don’t have an expert Uber Accident Lawyer Bronx NY fighting for your best interests, you aren’t likely to do well. You will get a fraction of what you were truly entitled to, you will sign away the opportunity to seek compensation in the future, and you are facing mounting medical and other expenses while enduring the pain of injuries. Don’t blame Uber or the insurance companies: They acted in their own best interests. Blame yourself for not calling an Uber Accident Lawyer Bronx NY to review your case and act in your best interests.

You refer to Uber, but aren’t there other ridesharing services? Would they be treated the same?

Yes, they would be treated the same. Regardless of the service, the application of the law is the same whether you are using Uber, Lyft or any other service. Why we cite Uber is its popularity, not because it is more dangerous than any other service. Rideshare statistics show that about seven-in-10 people using a rideshare service in New York choose Uber, while three-in-10 choose Lyft. There are other services, such as Via or Curb, but they account for a very small percentage of rideshare trips.

Uber and Lyft are big companies. Shouldn’t an injury suffered in their vehicle get me a big settlement?

While the headlines are filled with multi-million-dollar settlements, we hope that your injuries aren’t life-altering and that you can recover fully. This means that most cases aren’t going to lead to multi-million-dollar settlements, so temper your expectations. Proving your medical costs, psychological damage, lost wages, decreased earning power, loss of enjoyment of life, and pain and suffering will factor into calculating what you can collect. While you may have a case that could produce one of those headline numbers, many cases are resolved for less than $100,000.

The lawyers and staff at Feiner & Lavy aren’t just concerned about those big-dollar cases you read about in headlines. We aren’t going to reject you because yours is not a high-dollar case. We believe that all cases where someone is injured deserve serious representation and we are ready to fight for you.

How does a contingency fee work? What are expenses and who pays for them?

A contingency fee is the typical method of payment for personal injury cases. This means that you don’t owe any money up front, but a law firm agrees to take your case for a percentage, typically one third, of the settlement. If no money is won, you typically owe nothing. Case expenses can include filing fees, sending documents via FedEx to lawyers representing Uber, hiring an investigator, paying expert witnesses, police reports, photocopying and other case-relevant costs. These are the responsibility of the client.

I was in an accident and the insurance companies for Uber and the driver are offering me money. I won’t have to share that with a lawyer, so why shouldn’t I take it?

You’re probably getting an amount that is small in comparison to what a lawyer could win you. Even with the one-third the lawyer takes, if you settled for $33,000 and expenses were $2,000, you would have $20,000 in your pocket. The insurance company is probably offering you $5,000 and is pretty firm on that number. Some people will take the $5,000 and go home, but we believe in fighting for what you’re entitled to. The settlements that we win are quite a bit more than an insurance company is offering.

Our lawyers have decades of personal injury lawsuit experience, we know how to handle the big insurance companies and we are respected by our colleagues. And more than that, we are here to help you!