Georgia Uber Accident Lawyer

Uber and other rideshare apps continue to grow in popularity, especially in large metro areas like Atlanta. However, these services are also spreading into smaller areas as well.

For many people who don’t drive or have access to a car, they provide the freedom to move around the city quickly. Additionally, they offer a safe option for those who don’t want to drive after drinking.

But like any other vehicle on the road, an Uber can be involved in an accident. If you or a loved one have been hurt in such a collision, you may be wondering what to do about your medical bills, lost income, and other damages you’ve suffered.

Can a Georgia Uber Accident Attorney Help Me Sue Uber for My Accident?

In many cases, suing the rideshare company is not the most efficient or effective way to seek damages, but a Georgia Uber accident lawyer can explain your options and help you move forward.

Most of the time, we will determine liability and negotiate with the liable party’s insurance carrier. Uber maintains fairly robust coverage, although this may not apply if someone other than the Uber driver was at fault.

Let’s look at some of the different situations where a rideshare might be involved in an accident:

You’re a Passenger in an Uber and Are Hurt in an Accident

The two main liable parties are the rideshare driver and the other vehicle’s driver. In many cases, both may have contributed to the accident, but under Georgia law, the party who is primarily responsible (more than 50 percent) is liable for damages.

If the Uber driver was at fault, you would most likely be covered by Uber’s liability insurance, which provides up to $1,000,000 of coverage for bodily injury liability and property damage.

Remember that this insurance kicks in whenever the driver is actually carrying passengers or en route to pick up a passenger – this will be important when we discuss some of the other Uber accident situations.

Uber’s liability insurance covers most situations where a passenger is injured, but in rare cases where the person’s injuries are severe and permanent (or fatal), there might be more than $1,000,000 in damages.

In this case, your attorney will explain options for recovering the rest of your damages.

Depending on the situation, you may be able to sue Uber, but it could be challenging to prove they were negligent. You can sue the driver personally, but driving for a rideshare is not the most lucrative job in the world, and there is a good chance they can’t pay your damages.

If neither of those options is ideal, your lawyer will consider other possibilities, such as your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UI) or a third-party claim, to recover your damages.

When the other vehicle’s driver is responsible for the accident rather than the Uber driver, we will make a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance. You can also sue that driver personally or use your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, depending on the situation.

You’re a Pedestrian or Bicyclist, and an Uber Driver Hits You

If the rideshare driver was at fault, you could seek compensation from Uber’s liability insurance if the driver was carrying passengers or on the way to pick up passengers. It doesn’t matter that you were not one of the passengers.

If the driver was available for a fare but not actually carrying passengers, Uber’s “contingency” insurance applies, but it only provides $50,000 in bodily injury liability and $25,000 in property damage.

If this coverage is insufficient, your lawyer will consider whether a lawsuit against Uber or the driver would be worthwhile or whether your uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance is a better option. UM/UI policies do cover you as a pedestrian or bicyclist.

If the Uber driver was not online/accepting fares at the time of the accident, we will file a claim against their personal liability insurance (which all drivers are required to have in Georgia, whether or not they drive for a rideshare).

If You Are Driving Your Own Car and a Rideshare Driver Hits You

The same rules apply: If the at-fault driver was driving for Uber at the time, their liability insurance should cover you in varying amounts depending on whether or not they were carrying passengers.

If they had an Uber sign but were not online when the accident occurred, then we would make a claim on their personal liability insurance.

If You Are Driving for Uber and Are Hurt in a Car Accident

If you have followed Uber’s rules about maintaining collision and comprehensive personal insurance on your vehicle and are carrying/picking up passengers, you will be covered by Uber’s insurance for property damage.

This does include the replacement value if your car is totaled, but there is a $2,500 deductible.

When another driver is at fault, you will need to make a claim on their insurance coverage, but Uber’s UM/UI coverage may help with damages beyond their policy limit.

What About My Medical Bills If I Have an Accident While Driving for Uber?

Uber offers something called “Optional Injury Protection” to drivers. Yes, optional means that you have to pay extra for it – $0.024 per mile when you’re online.

This coverage will pay up to $1,000,000 for your medical bills, disability payments of up to $500 a week, survivor benefits for your family of up to $150,000, and accidental dismemberment payments of up to $200,000.

Alternatively, you can add Medical Payments coverage to your personal car insurance if you do not already have it. Medical Payments insurance, or MedPay, is not required in Georgia the way liability insurance is.

What’s the difference? Liability coverage pays for injuries other people suffer in an accident where you are at fault.

MedPay covers your medical expenses in an accident regardless of fault. It’s a good idea to have this coverage whether or not you drive for a rideshare.

However, MedPay generally does not cover disability/lost income or survivor benefits. If you want to compare costs and coverage, you can ask your insurance company for a quote.

You should also inquire if this coverage applies when you are driving for Uber because, in many cases, it may not. Some insurers require you to buy “ridesharing insurance” in order to be covered in these situations.

Uber’s optional insurance and MedPay are most important if you were the at-fault driver. If the other driver was responsible, you can seek coverage through their insurance and make a claim with Uber’s UM/UI coverage for any leftover damages.

How Do I Prove Fault in an Uber Accident?

After reading the previous sections, you probably understand that determining fault is the first thing an insurance company (any insurance company, not just Uber’s) will want to do.

The other driver is likely to claim you were at fault, even if you know you weren’t, because they don’t want to be personally liable or see their insurance rates go up.

Remember that under Georgia’s modified comparative negligence laws, you only have to prove the other party is primarily responsible for the crash, not 100 percent to blame.

However, there is one stipulation: Any amount of fault below 50 percent is subtracted from the injured party’s final award. So if you were 10 percent at fault, you would lose 10 percent of your damages.

Some people think that a police report neatly delegates fault, but this isn’t totally true. Responding officers will take statements from both drivers, any passengers, and any witnesses to the accident who are still around.

They will also examine the scene and any evidence, such as damage to the vehicles. Finally, the officer will file a report that will be available to the public.

This generally contains both drivers’ statements and the officer’s opinion of what probably happened.

Although these reports are given a lot of weight by judges and insurance adjusters alike, they are not the final say on who caused an accident. Frequently, the officers have limited time and are only able to perform a brief investigation.

They may not have all the facts, and in many cases, their reports are inconclusive.

This is why it’s essential to contact a Georgia Uber accident lawyer. We can perform a thorough investigation into your accident and gather more evidence that the other driver was at fault.

Our investigative team will search for video of the accident from doorbells, security, or traffic cameras. We’ll also canvas the area looking for additional witnesses who might have left before the police arrived, and we can subpoena the black box data from both vehicles.

Once we have more evidence of the other party’s liability, we can negotiate with the insurance company for a fair settlement – and if necessary, we can fight for your rights in court. (Most cases settle out of court.)

Some types of evidence are time-sensitive – for instance, video evidence is often erased to free up hard drive space – so the sooner you contact a lawyer, the better.

Other Personal Injury Situations Involving Rideshare Companies

So far, we’ve talked about car accidents that involve an Uber vehicle. This is the most common reason why people contact us about a personal injury claim against a rideshare company like Uber.

However, there are other ways to be injured due to negligence in an Uber ride.

From 2019 to 2020, there were more than 3,800 reports of sexual assault or misconduct involving rideshares. A report released by Uber in 2022 revealed the following:

• Even in the year 2020, when ridership fell significantly due to the global pandemic, there were 141 reported rapes and 998 reported cases of sexual assault in Ubers.
• In many of the sexual assault cases, riders reported that they were assaulted by a driver (56 percent of cases) or drivers were assaulted by passengers (43 percent of cases).
• 91 percent of people who reported rape were riders, while 7 percent were drivers.
• Uber says it runs background checks on drivers and has added safety features like on-trip reporting of problems.

Other types of assault are also possible, such as a rider hitting a driver or vice versa. In 2021, an Atlanta Uber driver was arrested and charged with felony murder after shooting two passengers, one of whom died.

The driver claimed he was acting in self-defense after being threatened by the passengers. Police found two guns at the scene, despite Uber’s policy of disallowing firearms for both riders and drivers.

Can You Sue if You Were Assaulted as an Uber Rider or Driver?

If your attorney can show evidence that Uber or another party was negligent, leading to your injuries, you can sue for damages like medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. Whether or not the company was negligent depends on the circumstances.

Some examples of negligence might include:

• If the rideshare company hired someone without completing a background check or in spite of a background check that showed a criminal history, the company might have been negligent.
• If the rideshare company received reports that a driver’s behavior was alarming and made no effort to address these issues, the company might have been negligent.
• In cases where the rideshare company received complaints about a passenger’s behavior and ignored them, and the passenger went on to assault a driver, the company may have been negligent.

If you were injured in any kind of assault involving an Uber driver or passenger, please seek medical attention for your injuries right away and file a police report. Then contact a Georgia personal injury lawyer to learn your options for pursuing compensation.

Where Can You Find a Georgia Uber Accident Attorney?

The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm is available for a free consultation about your Uber accident or injury. Our team of skilled professionals will review your case, answer your questions, and lay out your options for recovering damages.

Attorney Ali Awad founded the firm only a few years ago and rapidly transformed it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country.

When he’s not negotiating with insurance companies or arguing a case in court, he can be found on social media, giving no-nonsense legal advice to more than a million followers.

Call us at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm today at 888-307-3792.