Lyft Accident Lawyer in Fort Lauderdale

Getting into a Lyft accident can be confusing and stressful. Talk with a Lyft accident lawyer in Fort Lauderdale about this incident. Your attorney will examine your case and determine if you have grounds for seeking compensation from anyone responsible for your accident. 

Blakeley Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyers offers comprehensive legal representation to Lyft crash victims and their families. Our legal team has obtained over $250 million in compensation for rideshare crash victims and others.

Trust a rideshare accident lawyer in Fort Lauderdale from our team to help you with your Lyft collision case. For more information, schedule a case consultation with us. 

Why Should You Hire an Attorney Immediately After Your Lyft Accident?

Do nothing following your car crash involving a Lyft, and you take responsibility for your losses from the incident. Alternatively, if you partner with a Lyft accident attorney in Fort Lauderdale, you can get the legal help that you need to recover compensatory damages from any liable parties.

Ultimately, your lawyer will help you with your Lyft crash case in several ways, including:

Investigating Your Rideshare Accident

Your car accident lawyer in Fort Lauderdale will look at traffic or surveillance footage of your crash, interview witnesses, and take other measures to investigate. This allows your attorney to identify any liable parties.

Plus, your lawyer can start gathering rideshare app data, accident scene photos and videos, police reports, and other evidence to strengthen their argument. 

Handling Your Insurance Claim

Expect the insurance company of the party at fault for your rideshare collision to dispute your compensation request. Thankfully, your personal injury lawyer in Fort Lauderdale knows the tactics that insurers often use to delay or contest claims.

Your attorney will take care of your settlement negotiations. If you get an offer, you can weigh its pros and cons with your lawyer. 

Bringing Your Case to Trial

Unfortunately, filing a rideshare accident claim doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get money from a liable party’s insurer. Your lawyer will prepare your case as if it were to go to trial. They will share legal FAQs to help you set realistic expectations for your court proceedings. During your trial, your attorney will explain to a judge or jury why damages are warranted. 

Blakeley Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyers is a Florida personal injury law firm with more than 40 years of combined experience. Our legal team works diligently to achieve outstanding personal injury results for Lyft collision victims and many others. Let us help you with your rideshare crash case. Contact us today to get started. 

How Much Is a Lyft Accident Case in Fort Lauderdale Worth?

What you receive in compensatory damages is based on your quantifiable and subjective losses from your Lyft collision. Your Fort Lauderdale Lyft accident lawyer will encourage you to request economic and non–economic damages for many reasons, such as:

Pain and Suffering

Ask your lawyer about getting damages for pain and suffering from your car accident. That way, as your attorney prepares their argument, they can account for your emotional distress, mental anguish, physical discomfort, and other pain and suffering that you experience from this incident.

Medical Expenses

Keep track of what you spend to treat your concussion, broken bones, whiplash, and other injuries from your rideshare accident. Your lawyer can include the costs of your medications, doctors’ visits, surgery, physical therapy, and ongoing medical care in your compensation request. 

Lost Wages

Sadly, rideshare accident victims sometimes suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), spinal cord injuries (SCIs), and other catastrophic harm. Tell your attorney if you’re dealing with a catastrophic injury that’s preventing you from working. From here, your lawyer can pursue compensation for your current and future income losses. 

Outside of these, you can be compensated for your car repair costs, diminished earning capacity, and other losses from your Lyft collision. To recover compensatory damages, you will have to file your personal injury claim or lawsuit in accordance with Florida law. 

How Much Time Do You Have to File a Lyft Accident Claim in Fort Lauderdale?

In Florida, the statute of limitations for most personal injury lawsuits is two years. Meet with a Fort Lauderdale Lyft accident attorney if you’re interested in taking legal action against anyone at fault for your rideshare collision. Your lawyer will discuss your legal options in depth. 

Many Florida rideshare accident cases are resolved through insurance settlement negotiations. For example, you file a claim following an accident in which a Lyft driver was speeding. This driver’s insurance company finds that their client was at fault and offers a reasonable settlement. If you approve this offer, you will get money for your losses and close your case. 

Even if you have a legitimate rideshare crash claim, an at-fault party’s insurance company is likely to commit substantial time and resources to avoid compensating you. Thus, depending on the circumstances of your case, your attorney may advise you to file a lawsuit after an accident with Uber or Lyft. 

Who Is Responsible for Your Ridesharing Accident?

Consult with Lyft accident lawyers in Fort Lauderdale as soon as you can following your rideshare crash, as they can determine liability for the incident. Below are details about three parties that can be held accountable for your accident.

Rideshare Driver

If a rideshare driver acts carelessly or recklessly, they can be at fault for your collision. However, rideshare drivers are classified as independent contractors instead of employees. Thus, you may have to deal with the insurance company of the Lyft driver who caused your accident or their rideshare company if you want to secure compensation for your accident losses. 

Lyft

As your lawyer evaluates liability for your accident, they will account for whether a rideshare driver was accepting fares. If this driver was logged into their ridesharing app and transporting passengers or waiting for ride requests, Lyft’s insurance coverage can apply. In these cases, your lawyer can help you with your claim involving the rideshare company’s insurer. 

Another Driver

If the driver of another vehicle caused your accident, this individual and their insurance company may be responsible for covering your losses from the incident. Yet, if you’re in a Lyft and your driver gets into an accident caused by another driver, it becomes incredibly complicated to get compensation from Lyft’s insurance coverage or that of the other motorist.  

After your lawyer determines who is liable for your crash, they will request compensation through an insurance policy claim. Of course, there are times when rideshare crash victims and their families move forward with personal injury lawsuits. If you decide to sue Lyft for an accident, your attorney will file your lawsuit and look for ways to prove negligence.

How to Prove Negligence in a Rideshare Collision Case

To prove liability in your Lyft crash case, your lawyer will craft an argument centered around the elements of negligence. Doing so allows your attorney to show a judge or jury that an at-fault party was careless or reckless and caused your collision, injuries, and damages. 

For instance, to show driver negligence in your collision case, your lawyer can utilize this individual’s phone records to highlight how they were sending or receiving text messages at the time of your crash. These records can be used in conjunction with other evidence to prove to a judge or jury that this party was violating their duty of care to you.

In the scenario above, your attorney can also provide the court with pay stubs, medical bills, and other evidence relating to your damages. This evidence can help a judge or jury see how the driver’s decision to breach their duty of care is impacting you financially. As a result, it may prompt the court to order the driver to pay you damages. 

How Modified Comparative Negligence Can Dictate the Outcome of Your Case

Fort Lauderdale Lyft accident lawyers will teach you about Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule as it applies to your case. Because of this rule, a judge or jury has the right to award partial damages if you’re 1-50% at fault for your ridesharing collision. Or, if you’re more to blame than anyone else, you can’t recover damages.

To understand how modified comparative negligence can affect the damages you get in your case, consider an example. A Lyft driver engages in distracted driving and crashes their car into yours. Conversely, you ignored a stop sign, which contributed to the incident. 

In this situation, if the court rules that you’re 20% responsible for the crash, you’ll get 80% of the damages that you initially requested. On the other hand, if the court says that you’re more to blame than the other driver, you’ll be solely responsible for your accident losses. 

Why Lyft’s Independent Contractor Model Matters 

Lyft drivers are independent contractors. This can play a significant role in how liability and insurance coverage are handled after your accident, as the rideshare services company frequently tries to distance itself from liability for accidents caused by its drivers. 

The insurance coverage that Lyft provides to its drivers supplements a motorist’s car insurance policy. As such, the rideshare company may not take full responsibility for your rideshare collision unless one of its drivers logged into the app and was on duty during the incident. This can complicate the process of getting compensation for your incident losses. 

In some cases, the insurers of a rideshare company and the business may shift the blame onto the other, leaving you stuck in the middle. Rideshare accident lawyers know the legal challenges that you will face following your collision. They will address these challenges on your behalf so you can focus on your accident recovery.

Florida’s rideshare laws can be surprisingly complex, especially when an accident involves a Lyft driver. Florida Statute §627.748, known as the Transportation Network Company (TNC) statute, controls almost every part of a rideshare claim. It sets out when different insurance policies apply, how a driver’s status is classified at the moment of a crash, and what responsibilities a rideshare company must meet under Florida law. Even small details, like whether the driver was logged into the app or picking up a passenger, can change the entire case.

Blakeley Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyers has extensive experience with claims involving §627.748, and we know how to work through these issues in a way that protects our clients. We look closely at the timing of the ride request, the driver’s activity on the app, the available insurance layers, and whether the rideshare company followed the rules the statute requires. These cases often involve several insurers, each trying to shift blame or avoid paying, and it takes persistence and skill to cut through that.

Our focus in every rideshare case is straightforward. We fight to secure the maximum compensation our clients are entitled to under the law. When a company tries to hide behind the complexity of the TNC statute, we push back and build the strongest case possible.

What to Do After Your Rideshare Accident

Remember, what you do following a Lyft collision has far-reaching effects. Do what’s necessary to care for yourself, recover from this incident, and position yourself to get compensation from any liable parties.

Here are things to do to protect yourself in the aftermath of your crash:

• Receive medical care. Take your rideshare accident recovery seriously. Go to a doctor, get a medical evaluation, and prioritize your health and well-being throughout your recovery. 
• Report the incident. If you were traveling in a Lyft, notify the company about your collision, when it happened, and who was involved. Those who were driving and had a rideshare driver crash their vehicle into theirs should inform both the rideshare company and their auto insurance company about the incident. 
• Don’t take the blame for the incident. Be careful if the insurance company of the rideshare company or one of its drivers contacts you. If you accept responsibility for your rideshare collision, you will hurt your chances of getting money from any liable parties. 
• Get legal help. Choose a lawyer who has received many positive client testimonials to help you with your case. Your attorney will explore every legal avenue to ensure you are compensated fairly for your rideshare collision losses. 

Think twice before you go through the process of requesting compensation from anyone at fault for your rideshare collision alone. Fort Lauderdale Lyft accident attorneys will take the guesswork out of this process for you. They will handle your legal matters with care, ensuring you receive the help you need to make a full recovery from your rideshare crash.  

Don’t Wait Any Longer to Hire Lyft Accident Attorneys in Fort Lauderdale

It’s highly unlikely that the statute of limitations for your Lyft accident claim or lawsuit will be extended. Speak with car accident attorneys today, and you can take the first step to recover compensatory damages from anyone liable for your rideshare collision. 

At Blakeley Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyers, we take pride in helping Lyft accident victims and their families. Our personal injury attorneys will give your rideshare collision case our personal attention. Give us the opportunity to assist you with your case. To learn more, request a case consultation with us.