Irvine Uber Accident Lawyers
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Our Irvine Uber Accident Lawyers Are Dedicated To Advocating For Your Rights
Injuries sustained from an Uber ride can take a toll on your physical and emotional well-being. Apart from that, the liability can be more complicated compared to other types of collisions. At Arash Law, our Irvine Uber accident lawyers are committed to helping you seek accountability for your damages. Whether you were injured or a loved one was killed in an Uber crash, contact us at (888) 488-1391 so we can discuss in a free initial consultation the validity of your case and your options in pursuing compensation.
An alternative mode of transportation, like Uber, is convenient for the residents of Irvine, California. Despite the convenience, not everyone is safe from the unpredictability of vehicle collisions. Even if companies continue to initiate programs to maintain the users’ safety, there are still risks involved with the ridesharing service.
When these risks lead to injuries and other losses, you may need legal support when filing a claim with Uber or another party. In such cases, liability issues may arise, and you may need assistance from Uber accident lawyers.
Our client was driving with his wife and son on a two-lane highway when a drunk driver crossed the double yellow lines, causing a head-on collision that claimed the life of a loving wife and mother.
– ARASH KHORSANDI
Why Hire Our Irvine Uber Accident Lawyers For Your Case?
Working with an Irvine injury law firm after an accident can help you better understand your rights and avoid challenges that may affect the outcome of your claim.
Here are some reasons to consider hiring our Irvine Uber accident attorneys for your case:
- Filing a Claim Can Be Complex — It can be confusing to figure out where to start when filing your Irvine Uber accident claim. In some cases, you can file more than one claim against the parties involved. Our attorneys can guide you through the claim-filing process and help identify potentially liable parties.
- Negotiating for a Settlement Can Be Challenging — There could be a lot of difficulties and disagreements involved when settling with the other parties. Our lawyers can negotiate with insurers who may try to offer a lower settlement or deny your claim and pursue a fair payout based on your actual damages as allowed by the law.
- Trial Preparation Can Be Tedious — If trying to reach an agreement with the other party doesn’t work out, you may have to take your case to court.
While we hope to resolve your case through negotiations, our lawyers are ready to take your case to court if needed. Our Uber accident lawyers in Irvine can help assess your case and determine the appropriate legal action based on your circumstances.
What Can Our Irvine Uber Accident Lawyers Do
When Uber is involved in a car collision, it can be challenging to pursue compensation in certain cases. The victims will have to deal not only with the rideshare driver’s personal insurance company but also with Uber’s insurance providers.
If you have a legal issue, you may need a lawyer for legal assistance to understand your options to pursue compensation. There is a possibility that insurance companies and defense attorneys may try to dispute claims. Our experienced Uber accident attorneys in Irvine can help you deal with these parties.
Here are some of the things we do to help protect your rights to pursue a claim:
- Help You Get a Medical Evaluation — We can help connect you to doctors who can treat your injuries and assist in calculating your expected losses. An independent medical evaluation may be necessary to show how the accident caused your injuries.
- Deal With Settlement Negotiations — Our Uber traffic accident attorneys can take charge of negotiations with insurance providers. Most accident cases involving Uber are settled outside of a courtroom through negotiations with the company’s insurance carrier. An attorney can advocate for a settlement that covers your actual losses.
- File a Lawsuit — Your legal counsel can help gather the evidence necessary to establish liability by conducting a thorough investigation into the matter. However, if a satisfactory settlement agreement cannot be reached among the parties, your attorney can assess if going to court is a viable option for your case. Filing a lawsuit can be intimidating for many plaintiffs due to the complex processes involved. An attorney can help determine applicable deadlines and file the necessary requirements on time so you do not risk losing your rights to pursue a claim on technical grounds.
What Are The Differences Between Uber And Regular Car Accident Cases?
There might be similarities between Uber and regular car accident cases, but there is a clear distinction from a legal perspective. Our Irvine Uber accident lawyers can help you make sense of these legal complexities.
Here are three main factors that make Uber accident cases different from other types of car accident cases:
- A Third-Party Is Involved — When it comes to Uber accident cases, the company has indirect involvement. This could change the process and result of your case because you might have to file a claim for compensation with Uber instead of the driver who was at fault.
- Rideshare Company’s Negligence — Uber could be held responsible for an accident if improper training or inadequate hiring of its drivers contributed to the crash. The company could also be liable if there is evidence that safety inspection rules were broken.
- Self-Driving Vehicles — If Uber’s self-driving car caused a crash due to a malfunction with its software, the company could be held financially responsible for the accident and any injuries the client suffered because of it.
What Insurance Coverage Does Uber Provide?
Drivers in California are required to have their personal auto insurance policy. Meanwhile, Uber provides its drivers with a supplemental liability insurance policy in case of an accident and uninsured/underinsured motorist (UI/UIM) coverage in case the at-fault party’s policy is insufficient. Its tiered structure involves varying amounts of coverage that will depend on what the driver was doing during the accident.
The policy covers three possible situations. Our Uber accident lawyers in Irvine can help you understand these legalities.
- Phase 0 — If the Uber driver is logged off the app and driving for personal use when the accident occurred, your damages will be covered by the driver’s personal insurance. Under California law, motorists should have a minimum insurance of $30,000 for bodily injury per person, $60,000 per accident, and $15,000 for property damage.
- Phase 1 — If the Uber driver is logged in to the app and actively waiting for a passenger during the accident, Uber’s supplemental liability insurance policy becomes the primary coverage. The coverage includes $50,000 for bodily injury per person, $100,000 for bodily injury per accident, and $30,000 for property damage per accident.
- Phase 2 and 3 — If the Uber driver accepts a trip, is driving to the passenger’s location, or is already in transit with a passenger when the crash happened, Uber’s $1 million insurance policy applies. Also, if the at-fault driver does not have sufficient insurance to cover your damages, Uber’s uninsured/underinsured motorist (UI/UIM) coverage of up to $1 million may apply.
Having varying levels of insurance can easily complicate the claims process. Our Uber accident lawyers in Irvine are determined to identify and explore potential avenues for compensation that can help cover your damages.
Common Injuries Following An Uber Accident In Irvine, CA
You may be eligible to file a claim for the injuries you are suffering from a traffic collision caused by a negligent party in Irvine. These injuries can range from minor to serious and life-threatening due to a wide range of factors. Our Irvine Uber accident attorneys can collaborate with medical professionals to assess the impact of specific injuries, thereby evaluating the potential losses our clients may incur.
Here are the different types of injuries victims sustain in Uber accidents:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) — TBIs happen when the head and brain are damaged, resulting in swelling or bleeding within the skull. These brain injury accidents can lead to permanent damage, seizures, coma, or death.
- Internal Hemorrhaging — Another type of injury that happens a lot in car crashes is internal hemorrhaging or internal bleeding. This happens when an impact damages internal organs or blood vessels without rupturing the skin.
- Organ Damage — These serious injuries cover any trauma that happens to the victim’s internal organs, such as rupture of the abdominal aorta, punctured organs, blunt trauma to the kidneys, ruptured spleen, and punctured lung.
- Bone Fractures — If the musculoskeletal structure of a victim is not able to withstand the force of a collision, then it can lead to bone fractures. These injuries are slow to heal and can cause permanent disability without proper treatment.
- Cuts and Lacerations — Victims of car crashes often sustain cut wounds or lacerations because of broken plastic parts, shattered glass, and metal fragments from damaged vehicles. If left untreated, it can lead to infections or, worse, disfiguring scars.
- Burn Injuries — Burn injuries brought on by thermal, electrical, chemical, or electromagnetic energy cause severe skin damage. It can lead to physical disfigurement and emotional scarring for the victims.
- Neck and Back Injuries — Collisions can cause muscle and ligament strains in the neck and back of a victim. Minor injuries only result in pain and discomfort, such as whiplash, while severe ones can cause paralysis, especially if the spinal cord is affected.
- Paralysis — Paralysis happens when the spinal cord is damaged. It can either be temporary or permanent, but it is still devastating to the victim.
- Chest Injuries — Victims can sustain painful bruises or broken ribs when their chests are struck during a car crash. This happens because of physical trauma caused by the force of the crash.
- Joint Damage — When the victim’s joints are forcefully twisted, impacted, or rotated, they can suffer from strain, sprain, and dislocations.
- Amputation or Loss of Limb — Sustaining severe damage to your arms and legs can lead to amputation, depending on the severity of your injuries. The loss of a limb significantly affects the victim’s way of life.
Catastrophic crashes caused by the negligence of an Uber driver can lead to the wrongful death of the victim. Family members can hire our Uber accident lawyers in Irvine to pursue financial reparation for funeral expenses and emotional suffering, among others.
What Causes Uber Accidents In Irvine, California?
Uber is a popular ridesharing company in the U.S. However, using its services doesn’t eliminate the risks that come with driving yourself.
Even though drunk driving accidents can be lessened by Uber rides, crashes can still occur. You may need help from our Uber accident lawyers in Irvine to determine your next course of action after suffering injuries in a crash, especially if the Uber driver doesn’t have insurance or is at fault.
The main reasons why Uber crashes happen are:
Speeding
Most collisions are caused by drivers who travel at high speeds. In California, there were 1,130 fatalities and 57,572 injuries in speed-related accidents in 2020, based on the data provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).
Distracted Driving
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), distracted driving injured 362,415 people and caused 3,522 fatalities in 2021. Negligent drivers allow themselves to lose their focus on the road because of smartphones, GPS systems, and built-in entertainment systems. Even a split-second distraction can cause injuries or death to others.
Road Rage
There are drivers out on the road who are easily agitated, causing them to behave recklessly and risk the lives of other motorists. For a seven-year period, there were 218 murders and 12,610 injuries attributed to road rage incidents, according to the Safe Motorist.
Poor Weather Conditions
The patience and skills of drivers are tested whenever they travel in poor weather conditions. If the road is wet during the rain, it is advised to drive more slowly to avoid unwanted collisions.
Fatigue Driving
Uber drivers are prone to fatigue, especially if they have a long workday. This may also apply to other motorists. Fatigued drivers may lose their sense of their surroundings and become a risk to other drivers. This is why it is advised to pull over or avoid driving when feeling tired or sleepy.
Mechanical Failures
Common mechanical failures include airbag failure, seatbelt failure, and poorly designed roofs or vehicle cages. Uber drivers are independent contractors and not employees. That means you may face issues assigning liability if you face the lawsuit alone, especially if there is a mechanical failure. While the driver and the company may face legal liability after a crash, car manufacturers are responsible for the vehicles and parts they place in the marketplace. If any part is defective and found at fault for the accident, then you may be able to file a claim against the manufacturer.
Driving While Intoxicated
According to the NHTSA, in 2021, drunk-driving crashes killed about 37 Americans every day, one every 39 minutes. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs impairs one’s judgment and reaction time, resulting in potentially catastrophic crashes.
Poor Road Conditions
Some crashes involving Uber are caused by improperly maintained city roads or highways. If your case was caused by a cracked road, a pothole, construction, or other poor road conditions, you may file a claim against a local or state government entity. Such a claim is usually difficult, but our Irvine Uber accident lawyers can help you gather evidence to establish liability and seek accountability against the at-fault parties.
2019: $27M confidential settlement in a case involving multiple plaintiffs.
– BRIAN BEECHER
What Types Of Compensation Can I Seek After An Uber Accident?
Uber and its drivers who work as independent contractors have insurance policies that cover various types of damages. However, different cases involving Uber have their own worth, which depends on the severity of the collision and the levels of injuries involved.
If you were injured in a collision in Irvine involving Uber, our Irvine Uber accident lawyers can help you pursue these three types of damages: economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
Economic Damages
Special damages or economic damages compensate an injured person for tangible financial losses. These are damages that have a monetary value attached to them, including lost wages, loss of earning capacity, loss of employment benefits, medical expenses, and property damage.
- Medical Expenses — Treating accident-related injuries can be expensive. You can obtain compensation for the medical expenses you incurred and will incur for your injuries, like therapies, rehabilitation, prescriptions, and surgeries.
- Lost Wages — Some injuries cause the victim to miss work. Worse, they may even become disabled and lose the ability to work. You can include the wages or income you lost in your claim.
Non-Economic Damages
General damages or non-economic damages are intended to compensate an injured person for losses that are not easily quantified in monetary terms. These are damages that do not have a specific price attached to them, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, loss of life enjoyment, and loss of reputation.
- Pain, Suffering, and Emotional Trauma — Many accident victims suffer mental and emotional accident-related trauma. However, proving these losses can be difficult. Irvine Uber accident attorneys can help you connect with professionals who can validate your injuries to support your claim to seek damages.
- Loss of Consortium or Companionship — In personal injury law, there is value in losing the ability to spend quality time with your spouse, loss of help with household chores, etc. Our attorneys can assist you in determining such damages and take these into consideration when calculating the potential value of your claim.
Punitive Damages
In rare cases, punitive damages are awarded in instances of gross negligence or intentional wrongdoing. This is intended to punish the wrongdoer and act as a deterrent for similar misconduct in the future.
To find out what kind of compensation you may be eligible for, talk to our Uber accident lawyers in Irvine. No matter what kind of damage you sustained, Arash Law will assist you in submitting a claim and exploring potential avenues to pursue compensation.
Is There A Time Limit For Filing An Uber Accident Claim In Irvine, California?
In California, there is a statute of limitations that must be observed for personal injury or wrongful death claims. Generally, there is a two-year deadline imposed for injury claims, including rideshare-related incidents. The plaintiff must be able to file their claim before the two years are up.
However, some exceptions may apply in certain situations. For instance, there is a discovery rule where the statute of limitations begins after the victim discovers the damages, especially in cases where the injuries manifest over a period of time. Another example is when the defendant is out of the state or country. The plaintiff is able to ask for an extension until the defendant returns.
Failing to observe the deadline usually leads to the court denying your case. If the statute of limitations still confuses you, consult with our Irvine Uber accident lawyers at Arash Law. We can help explain the time limit that is applicable to your situation.
What To Do After An Uber Accident In Irvine
In the event you sustained an injury in a crash involving an Uber vehicle, you can take particular steps to protect your right to pursue a fair settlement. If you are conscious, safe, and able, remember to take note of the following:
- Call 911 to Report the Crash — In most cases, you should call the police after a crash unless no one was hurt or nothing was damaged. The police can document the accident, obtain additional information, and consolidate an official record, which will be vital for your claim.
- Seek Immediate Medical Care — Seeking medical help right away can prevent your injuries from becoming more severe or life-threatening. Scanners and tests will uncover any injuries inside the body that may not show symptoms yet. Even if you feel fine, it is advisable to seek medical attention shortly after the accident.
- Notify the Insurer — Report the incident to the insurance company, but refrain from revealing too much information. Only give away what is necessary. Do not accept a settlement offer or record a statement until you speak to an attorney.
- Contact Our Uber Accident Lawyers in Irvine — We offer a free initial case evaluation so you can discuss your case without worrying about the costs. We can assess whether your case has merit, take charge of negotiating with insurance companies, and assist you with your personal injury claim throughout the process.
Discuss Your Case With Our Uber Accident Lawyers In Irvine
You don’t have to face the troubles of processing a claim alone. Our Irvine Uber accident lawyers are dedicated to assisting clients in pursuing claims against rideshare companies and other negligent parties. Our legal team will guide you through the claims process so you can focus on rehabilitation.
You can schedule a free initial consultation with our attorneys focusing on Uber accidents and other personal injury cases. You don’t have to pay any upfront lawyer fees as we take on cases on a contingency fee basis. We will only get paid if we obtain compensation on your behalf. Nevertheless, certain costs may still apply regardless of the outcome. We will clarify our fee structure during our meeting. Call us at (888) 488-1391 or fill out our “Do I Have A Case?” form.
We can represent Irvine residents and their families, as well as neighboring communities, including Tustin, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Tustin Foothills, Orange, Newport Beach, and Fountain Valley. We also extend our services to major cities throughout California, namely Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, Bakersfield, San Francisco, and Fresno.
