Did you or a family member suffer injuries in a rideshare accident in San Antonio, TX? You may be entitled to significant compensation. In rideshare cases, it’s tough to know where to turn for that compensation. An experienced San Antonio Lyft accident attorney at George Salinas Injury Lawyers can help you fight to recover money for medical bills, lost wages, and more.
We have over 110 years of combined experience. We’ve already used that experience to help our clients recover hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts.
To learn more about how we can use our skills to your advantage, contact our law offices in San Antonio, Texas at (210) 225-0909 and schedule a free consultation today.
How George Salinas Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Lyft Accident in San Antonio, TX
It’s important to take legal action quickly after a car accident involving a Lyft vehicle. Evidence can disappear quickly–and witnesses might forget what they saw.
In Lyft car accident cases, it’s even more important to take swift action. It’s likely that you will pursue compensation from a commercial insurance carrier. These policies involve higher dollar values. That means the insurance company is more likely to fight hard to minimize its liability.
An experienced attorney at George Salinas Injury Lawyers can help you overcome the challenges you might face. Our lawyers have been recognized by Super Lawyers and Rising Stars.
When you hire us, we will:
- Handle the investigation into your accident
- Gather evidence to prove liability
- Bring in trusted experts to help build your case
- Calculate the fair value of your personal injury case
- Identify the available insurance coverage
- Negotiate with the insurance companies for a fair settlement offer
We aren’t afraid to fight for you in court if necessary. To learn more about how our San Antonio personal injury lawyers can strengthen your claim for compensation, call for a free consultation.
How Common Are Lyft Accidents in Texas?
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) publishes car accident statistics each year. However, it can be difficult to know whether Lyft accidents are common because rideshare drivers use passenger autos. Lyft accidents are grouped in with all other car accident cases.
However, according to a University of Chicago study, the roads have become more dangerous since rideshare companies were introduced. That study found that traffic fatalities increased by 3% each year since Lyft, Uber, and other rideshare companies became popular in major U.S. cities.
What Is My San Antonio Lyft Accident Case Worth?
The amount of money you can recover by filing a personal injury claim depends on many different factors. Insurance companies typically assign the greatest weight to the severity of a victim’s injuries. That said, many different issues are relevant when assessing the value of a personal injury case.
When our lawyers calculate how much your personal injury case is worth, we will consider:
- The types of injuries you have suffered
- The cost of your medical care and expenses
- Whether you lose income during recovery
- How the injury might impact your future earnings
- Whether you require ongoing medical treatment
- Whether you contributed to the accident
- Damage to your quality of life and lifestyle changes
In Uber and Lyft accident cases, Lyft’s insurance coverage is also an important factor. Insurance in Lyft accident cases is different from your typical car accident case. Unlike cab drivers, Lyft drivers are independent contractors. While employers are typically responsible for their employees’ negligent acts, Lyft cannot be held liable when Lyft drivers cause accidents.
While Lyft drivers purchase car insurance like anyone else, they are using their personal vehicles to earn a living. That means their car insurance companies can deny claims related to accidents they cause while they’re on the job.
Under Texas law, Lyft is now required to purchase commercial insurance coverage. However, coverage requirements vary depending on the driver’s status at the time of the accident.
Driver Is Available To Accept Rides
Lyft drivers often drive around while waiting for a passenger to request a ride.
If the driver is logged into the Lyft app and available to take ride requests, the following coverage applies:
- $50,000 in bodily injury coverage per injured person
- $100,000 in bodily injury coverage per accident
- $25,000 in property damage coverage per accident
This coverage is secondary in nature. That means it only kicks in once all other sources of insurance coverage have been exhausted.
Driver Has Accepted a Ride Request
A larger policy becomes available once the Lyft driver has accepted a passenger request.
The following coverage is available:
- $1 million in third-party liability coverage
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage
- Contingent collision coverage up to the actual cash value of the car (with a $2,500 deductible)
This coverage is available when the driver is en route to pick up a passenger and during rides. Once the ride ends in the Lyft app, the smaller Lyft policy becomes available again.
Lyft App Is Turned Off
If the Lyft app is turned off, the driver’s personal auto insurance policy will cover damages. The case is basically treated like any other motor vehicle accident claim.
What Sorts of Damages Are Available to Lyft Accident Victims?
Like any car accident victim, Lyft accident victims may be entitled to recover compensation for economic and non-economic damages.
As a victim, you may deserve compensation for:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Lost future earning potential
- Physical therapy
- Nursing care
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- PTSD
- Diminished quality of life
- Physical disfigurement and scarring
- Loss of consortium
Our car accident lawyers in San Antonio handle complex accident cases like yours every day. We’ll carefully evaluate your losses to determine the types of damages that might be available in your case. Just give us a call to schedule a free case review to learn more.
Can I Recover Compensation If I’m Being Blamed for Causing A Lyft Accident in Texas?
Blame is an important concept in car accident cases under Texas law. Texas is a fault state, so the driver who is to blame, or at fault, for causing an accident is responsible for covering losses to any crash victims. Their bodily injury liability insurance will pay for claims.
Insurance companies can pay less in compensation if they can prove the victim was partially responsible for an accident. However, sometimes there’s not just one person at fault for a crash. In those circumstances, the modified comparative negligence law that applies in Texas, will be followed, and victims can even lose their right to compensation entirely.
Under the modified comparative fault rules in Texas, you can recover partial compensation if your share of fault is less than 51%. Once your percentage of fault reaches 51%, however, you cannot seek compensation for your injuries.
If you were 51% to blame for an accident, you could be held responsible for the entire crash and made to compensate victims. If you were less than 50% responsible, you could take legal action against the other party who bore the majority of the blame.
Other people can’t just blame you for an accident, though. In order for you to be fully or partly liable, you must have failed to fulfill a legal duty of care. Drivers owe a duty to be responsible to others on the road, and they breach that duty if they behave negligently or are unreasonably careless on the road.
If you were driving a Lyft and an accident occurred, it’s possible you may have broken a safety rule or behaved less carefully than a hypothetical reasonable driver would have. In those circumstances, if your actions were the primary cause of a crash, you could be held accountable to others and would not be able to recover compensation yourself.
If you were operating another vehicle on the road, the same thing is true. If you hit a Lyft vehicle and injured others in a crash you were at least 51% responsible for, you could be made to compensate crash victims and wouldn’t be able to pursue your own claim for damages.
In either scenario, though, if you were driving a Lyft or in any other car and someone else was careless and was 51% or more responsible for an accident, you could take action against that responsible party.
If you were a passenger in a Lyft vehicle, it’s usually pretty clear that someone else was the cause of the crash since it would be hard for a passenger to be 51% or more to blame for a car accident.
Unless you grabbed the wheel or otherwise impaired the Lyft driver from driving safely, you should be able to hold either the Lyft driver or another motorist responsible for any harm you endured while you were a passenger in the Lyft car.
Our lawyers have years of experience helping clients receive the full compensation they deserve. Call today to learn more about how we can help.
We’ll Fight To Recover Compensation for All of Your Accident Injuries
At George Salinas Injury Lawyers, we often represent clients who have suffered:
- Whiplash and other soft tissue injuries
- Concussions
- Broken bones
- Nerve injuries
- Whiplash injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Head and neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Internal injuries
- Burns
- Amputations
- Paralysis
- Long-term or catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death of a loved one
Report the accident as soon as you can. Once you have received medical care, contact our San Antonio car accident lawyers. Our lawyers are always available to discuss your case. Give us a call to schedule your free case evaluation today.
What Causes Most Lyft Accidents in San Antonio, Texas?
Uber and Lyft drivers spend a lot of time on the road. That doesn’t mean they’re less likely to cause an accident. In fact, Lyft drivers are even more likely to be tired and distracted than your average driver.
That said, the same things that tend to cause ordinary auto accidents can also cause Lyft accidents, including:
- Speeding
- Running a red light or stop sign
- Texting while driving
- Distracted driving
- Failure to yield the right-of-way
- Tailgating
- Aggressive driving
- Dangerous turns
- Weaving between lanes
- Driving under the influence of drugs
- Drunk driving
- Failure to maintain Lyft vehicles
- Poor visibility and dangerous road conditions
Our San Antonio injury lawyers can help you determine the cause of your accident. Call our law firm today to schedule a free initial consultation.
How Do I Prove Negligence After a Lyft Accident in Texas?
- The at-fault party owed you a legal duty of care: Every driver has a duty to behave safely on the roads. All motorists also have a duty to follow rules of the road, like laws against speeding or distracted driving.
- They breached their duty of care: A driver breaches their duty of care if they fail to exercise reasonable caution. Their actions are compared against a hypothetical reasonable driver. If an average reasonable driver would have been more careful behind the wheel, then the driver who fell short is considered in breach of their duty.
- The breach caused your accident: The careless or wrongful behavior on the part of the driver must have been a direct cause of the crash. If a driver was distracted but the cause of the accident was actually an impaired motorist hitting them in a way they couldn’t have avoided even if they’d been paying attention, then their distraction wasn’t the cause of the collision. They likely wouldn’t be responsible for any resulting losses.
- You suffered damages: You must have been harmed as a direct result of the accident. This means you must have experienced physical or mental injuries or property damage that can be directly linked to the crash.
You can also prove negligence by demonstrating that a driver violated a safety rule designed to protect against the losses you endured.
For example, if your driver was speeding and a crash happened because of it, they violated the speed limit law designed to prevent high-speed accidents. This is an example of negligence per se, and the very act of their rule violation is enough to create the presumption they were negligent unless they can prove otherwise.
It isn’t always easy to prove causation. Our lawyers have the resources to launch a full investigation. We’ll interview witnesses, review police reports, and search for videos and photos of the crash. Gathering all of this evidence can help you to make a strong claim so you can maximize the chances of winning your case and being compensated for your losses.
Understanding Lyft Insurance Coverage
In Texas, a case called Painter v. Amerimex Drilling I, Ltd explains that “an employer is vicariously liable for its employee’s negligent acts if those acts are within the course and scope of his employment,”
However, Lyft drivers are independent contractors and not employers. A crash victim who is hurt in an accident with a Lyft driver cannot pursue a claim against Lyft on the basis of employee negligence.
Lyft does provide some insurance coverage, though — although the circumstances under which this coverage applies vary depending on what the driver is doing at the time of the incident. Here are Lyft’s policies on auto insurance.
- If the Lyft driver is in their vehicle while the app is off, then the driver’s personal auto insurance coverage applies and Lyft does not provide any protection.
- If the Lyft driver is in the vehicle, the app is on, and the driver is waiting for a ride request, Lyft has third-party liability insurance that provides $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident in bodily injury liability coverage. It also provides $25,000 per accident in property damage coverage.
- If the Lyft driver is on the app and is en route to pick up passengers or if a ride is in progress, Lyft provides at least $1,000,000 in third-party auto liability insurance. Lyft also provides other first-party coverage as well, including uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage and contingent comprehensive and collision coverage if the driver has these protections in place on their own policy.
In Texas, Uber and Lyft do not automatically provide Personal Injury Protection (PIP). Unlike in some states where PIP is mandatory, Texas law allows drivers to reject PIP coverage in writing, meaning it is often not included in rideshare insurance policies. Lyft drivers who want PIP coverage may need to purchase a separate rideshare insurance policy that includes it to ensure coverage for medical bills and lost wages after an accident. For injured Lyft passengers, filing a claim against Lyft’s $1 million liability policy is typically the first step, as PIP only applies if they have it through their own auto insurance.
Lyft cases can be more complicated because there are multiple insurance policies that can provide a payout when an accident occurs. A San Antonio Lyft accident attorney at George Salinas Injury Lawyers will help you understand what coverage applies in your situation and will work with you to get the money you deserve in an accident’s aftermath.
How Long Do I Have To File a Lawsuit After Sustaining Injuries in a Lyft Accident in Texas?
If you were injured in an accident, you have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit. The two-year statute of limitations starts to run on the date of the accident. Once two years pass, you can no longer sue for damages.
Contact a San Antonio Lyft Accident Lawyer for a Free Consultation
Recovering fair compensation after a Lyft accident can be difficult, and a San Antonio Lyft accident lawyer can help you understand the complex insurance issues that apply in these cases. Contact George Salinas Injury Lawyers today at (210) 225-0909 to schedule your free consultation.