Uber Accident Lawyer in McAllen

An Uber and Lyft Accident Attorney Helping Rideshare Victims with Their Personal Injury Claims in South Texas

Uber and Lyft provide transportation services to individuals who need a ride to work, a safe ride home after enjoying a night out with friends, or for any other reason they might need a safe alternative to public transportation. Rideshare services have made roads safer in many ways by giving people an alternative to driving after drinking or navigating unfamiliar roads as visitors or tourists.

However, Uber and Lyft have the same risks of being in a traffic accident as other motor vehicles on the road. If you are injured in an auto accident involving a rideshare company in McAllen, Texas, or South Texas at large, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. However, the personal injury accident claim may be more complicated because a rideshare company is involved.

Our Texas personal injury lawyer has over 25 years of experience representing injured victims to help them receive fair compensation for their injuries and damages. Our compassionate legal team has recovered tens of millions of dollars in jury verdicts and personal injury settlements. We are fierce advocates for our clients in the courtroom and at the negotiating table.

Contact The Law Office of Lino H. Ochoa to schedule a free consultation with a McAllen Uber/Lyft accident lawyer to discuss your legal options. Put our award-winning litigators in your corner and give yourself the edge you need to win full and fair compensation. Contact our law office in McAllen, TX, online or call 956-707-3610 to set up your free consultation now.

How Can Our McAllen Rideshare Lawyer Assist You if You’ve Been in an Uber or Lyft Vehicle Accident?

Rideshare drivers are not Lyft or Uber employees. They are independent contractors, which can complicate the process of obtaining compensation for your injuries.

Multiple parties could be involved in your case, and you may have multiple avenues to pursue compensation. However, that could also mean dealing with multiple insurance companies trying to avoid liability for the accident.

Our McAllen Uber accident lawyer, serving South Texas, has extensive experience handling and winning car accident cases. Our top-rated personal injury lawyer uses his experience, skills, and resources to get justice for you and your family after a tragic accident.

When you hire our top-rated Uber and Lyft accident attorney in McAllen, you can expect us to:

Investigate the accident to determine how the crash occurred and identify the liable parties
File insurance claims with all insurance providers and handle all matters related to those claims
Gather evidence proving fault for the accident, including working with expert witnesses when necessary
Determine how much your Uber/Lyft accident case is worth after carefully documenting your damages, like medical bills and lost wages
Defend you against allegations that you could be partially to blame for causing the ridesharing accident
Negotiate a fair settlement with the at-fault driver and any other parties involved
File a personal injury lawsuit to pursue the at-fault parties in court and hold them accountable for their actions

You are the innocent victim injured in a rideshare accident. You should not bear the financial burden of another party’s negligence.

Contact The Law Office of Lino H. Ochoa to schedule a free case evaluation with an experienced rideshare accident lawyer in McAllen, TX.

What Are Common Causes of Ridesharing Accidents in McAllen, TX?

An Uber driver is just like any other driver on the road. They make mistakes and act negligently behind the wheel.

However, Lyft or Uber drivers may not have caused the accident. Other motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians could have been responsible. In some cases, a government entity could be responsible for road conditions that contributed to the crash.

Factors that can lead to an Uber accident in South Texas include:

Aggressive driving and speeding
Distracted driving
Dangerous or defective road conditions
Fatigued and drowsy driving
Defective automobile parts or systems
Failing to yield the right of way
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Failure to follow Texas traffic laws
Texting while driving or talking on a cell phone without a hands-free option
Distraction caused by the rideshare app
Improper vehicle maintenance
Road rage
Unsafe lane changes
Failure to properly signal a turn
Running stop signs and red lights

Proving causation and determining liability are essential elements of a car accident case. If you cannot prove that another party caused the crash, the courts will not hold them legally responsible for your damages.

During the investigation of your claim, our legal team will gather evidence to prove how the Uber accident occurred. We identify the party or parties responsible for each factor that contributed to the cause of the crash.

What Types of Evidence Could Prove Helpful in Pursuit of Maximum Compensation?

Regardless of how the rideshare accident happened, certain pieces of evidence may prove extraordinarily useful to you and your rideshare accident attorney.

Before leaving the scene of the accident, you should attempt to collect as much evidence as possible, including photographs and videos of bodily injuries, road conditions, any property damage, and vehicular damage. You should also seek any potential witnesses who saw how the crash transpired and obtain their contact information so that your personal injury attorney can request their testimony later.

When law enforcement arrives at the crash scene, victims are encouraged to provide a detailed account of what occurred for an accident report. The official police report provides an initial assessment of the cause of the auto collision and can be used as evidence in your personal injury claim.

After a car crash, regardless of whether it involves a rideshare company, it’s vital that you seek medical attention right away. Not only could your injuries worsen with time, but failure to get proper medical treatment could devalue your claim. Additionally, medical records from before the accident and afterwards will be useful to your attorney when attempting to prove your case.

Our legal team will work with professionals to perform damage assessments and form opinions of how the accident happened and who might have been at fault. This may involve seeking the testimony of car accident reconstruction specialists, medical professionals, and other experts in various fields who may provide illuminating viewpoints on causation, liability, and injury severity. Using expert testimony, we can build a stronger case, properly assess vehicle damage costs, and determine long-term medical expenses.

In addition to surveillance footage, we will also look for other digital evidence obtained from cameras on nearby stores or restaurants.

Various types of digital evidence are especially crucial in rideshare accident cases where the drivers are online and operating from the rideshare apps. Cell phone records of the Lyft or Uber driver can be used to corroborate witness testimonies and potentially determine negligence, but there are other examples of digital evidence that could provide valuable insights into the cause of the crash. For example, rideshare apps keep detailed logs of all trips, recording information about each passenger ride, including the date, time, identities of the driver and passengers, and the location of the pickup and drop-off. Along with this, ridesharing apps also use accurate GPS data to track the location of rideshare drivers and passengers in real time. After carefully reviewing GPS data, we can potentially reconstruct the events that led to the incident. Data from the app also provides essential information about the driver’s activity at the time of the car crash, including revealing the driver’s status. Finally, we will look at Lyft and Uber driver ratings, feedback, and any communication the drivers may have had with the passengers.

By utilizing these and any other evidence that we can gather, we feel confident that we can build a convincing case capable of winning you a fair financial settlement.

What Damages Can Rideshare Accident Victims Hope to Recover with a Successful Claim?

Texas is an at-fault state for car accident claims. Once you prove liability, you can receive compensation for your economic and non-economic damages.

Examples of the damages you might receive for an Uber or Lyft accident case include the following:

The cost of your medical care and treatment, including past medical bills, future medical expenses, surgical fees, prescription medications, hospital visits, ambulance transportation, and ongoing medical care
Physical pain and suffering if you suffered injuries that cause chronic or long-lasting discomfort
Out-of-pocket expenses and costs related to the immediate aftermath of the rideshare crash, and other expenses related to recovery
Loss of income, wages, and lost future earning capacity if you miss time from work or are rendered unable to ever return to your former place of employment
Nursing and/or personal care if you suffered debilitating injuries and require hands-on medical attention or daily assistance
Impairments, disfigurement, disabilities, dismemberment, and scarring
Property damage, including damage to your motor vehicle involved in the accident, or any personal property damaged in the collision
Loss of enjoyment of life and quality of life if an injury negatively and perhaps permanently affects a rideshare accident victim’s ability to live on their own terms
Rehabilitative care and therapy, including compensation for medically necessary physical therapy
Mental anguish, psychological trauma, and emotional distress
Wrongful death damages, which may include lost wages, loss of benefits, loss of guardianship and guidance, loss of companionship or consortium, medical expenses incurred before death, and compensation for funeral, burial, cremation, and memorial expenses

Some Uber accident lawsuits could result in punitive damages. You must prove that the defendant acted with gross negligence, malice, or fraud to receive punitive damages. Our McAllen Uber accident attorney evaluates each case to determine the types of damages available.

What Are the Rights of Lyft and Uber Drivers Involved in Texas Car Accidents?

Just as rideshare passengers have legal rights if they are injured in an auto accident involving a rideshare driver, any rideshare company driver is also afforded certain rights. If you are a Uber or Lyft driver who has been injured in a car accident through no fault of your own, you must seek professional legal representation from an experienced attorney well-versed in these types of cases.

Typically, rideshare drivers must be able to prove that they were online and actively using the app at the time of the accident. If they were offline and not operating as an Uber or Lyft driver during the crash, their potential for financial recovery may be more limited.

As an Uber or Lyft driver injured in a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence, your rights include the following:

If you were driving passengers en route to their drop-off point, you may be entitled to file a claim under the rideshare company’s third-party liability policy, potentially awarding you up to $1 million in damages
Rideshare drivers injured while on the job may be able to pursue workers’ compensation benefits for medical expenses and lost income support
Uber and Lyft motorists struck by uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run drivers may be able to seek reimbursement with uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage

As a rideshare driver, your status on the ridesharing app is paramount to determining what insurance coverage applies in your case. If you were offline at the time of the accident, your personal car insurance applies, which may not cover all routes or deliveries. If you are marked as available or online but have not currently picked up a rider or are en route to picking up a passenger, the rideshare company’s limited liability coverage typically applies, providing anywhere between $25,000 and $100,000 in coverage. When you are en route or picking up a passenger, or your passenger is already in the car and you are taking them to their drop-off, the rideshare company’s comprehensive coverage applies, covering you, passengers, and any third parties injured in a crash.

To learn more about the many complexities of insurance coverage, liability, and negligence in a rideshare car accident, please contact our Texas law office to schedule your free, no-obligation case evaluation today.

How Common Are Car Crashes Involving Uber and Lyft Drivers?

However convenient that Uber and Lyft services may be, they represent an increase in drivers on the roads, including drivers who are fatigued from long hours behind the wheel and drivers operating in unfamiliar neighborhoods and needing to rely upon the directions of the rideshare apps. Understandably, this leads to an uptick in car accidents across the country.

A recent study from the University of Chicago stated that rideshare services like Uber and Lyft could potentially be responsible for a 2 to 3% increase in auto accident fatalities nationwide over the past 10 years.

In a recent safety report, Uber estimated that over 90 fatal accidents involving Uber vehicles in the USA in one calendar year resulted in more than 100 fatalities. It also estimates that its drivers handle nearly two billion trips every fiscal quarter, which equals nearly 21 million trips a day nationwide.

What Are the State and Rideshare Company Requirements of Lyft and Uber Drivers in Texas?

Rideshare companies have specific requirements for their drivers. While most of the requirements are the same across the board, there are some differences between Uber and Lyft.

Examples of rideshare service driver requirements include the following:

Drivers must have personal auto insurance for their vehicle
Lyft drivers must be at least 25 years old. Uber drivers must have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the country or three years of driving experience if they are under age 25
Must have a smartphone capable of running the rideshare app
Drivers must have a valid driver’s license
Lyft vehicles must have at least four doors and anywhere between five and eight seats, including the driver’s seat. Additionally, the vehicle must be less than 15 years old
The registration for the rideshare vehicle must be valid
Must pass a screening test that reviews criminal history and any relevant driving history
For Uber drivers, they must meet the minimum age to drive in the state of Texas and must have proof of residency in their city, state, or province
The Lyft rideshare vehicle cannot be a taxi, rental car, or limousine. Additionally, it cannot be titled as non-repairable, rebuilt, salvage, or any other similar classification
Uber vehicles must be in good working condition with no cosmetic damage, and cannot be vehicles with commercial branding

Additional requirements may apply to rideshare drivers operating vehicles in higher tiers, including Comfort, XL, and others.

Texas rideshare drivers must also abide by state and local laws. The Lone Star State requires that rideshare vehicles be inspected yearly to have a valid registration. Additionally, certain counties in Texas require annual emissions tests. Finally, you must remember that texting while driving is against the law in Texas, which also applies to Uber and Lyft drivers.

Who Can Be Held Responsible for Paying Damages for a McAllen Lyft or Uber Accident?

The party that caused the Uber accident should be responsible for your damages. Therefore, identifying the liable parties is vital to receiving a fair settlement for your rideshare accident claim.

In cases where the Uber or Lyft driver caused the accident, the driver and the rideshare company could be liable for your damages. Uber and Lyft drivers must have minimum automobile insurance coverage to operate their rideshare vehicles in Texas lawfully.

However, private insurance companies might not cover the damages for an accident that occurred while the driver was transporting a paid fare. In those instances, Uber also has insurance that might cover the accident. Uber maintains different levels of insurance coverage for their drivers depending on their status.

For example, if an Uber driver is available or waiting for a ride request, they are covered by $50,000 in bodily injury coverage ($100,000 per accident) and $25,000 in property damage coverage. This insurance generally applies only if the driver’s coverage does not.

If the Uber driver is en route to pick up a ride or has an Uber passenger in the vehicle, the third-party liability insurance increases to $1 million.

Even though Uber has insurance coverage, it does not mean you will automatically be paid for a car accident claim. You must prove that the Uber driver caused the car crash to receive compensation. Even so, the insurance company could try to undervalue your damages to pay less than your claim is worth.

If another driver contributed to the cause of the accident, they could also be personally liable for damages. If they have the required insurance coverage, their insurance provider may be liable up to the policy limits.

An Uber accident could also involve other parties, including pedestrians, government entities, trucking companies, and bicyclists. Anyone who contributed to the cause of the Uber accident could be liable for your damages.

Rideshare accident claims can be complicated because of the importance of the rideshare driver’s status and the confusing nature of the rideshare company’s insurance policy vs. the driver’s personal insurance coverage. Try not to feel overwhelmed. Our experienced rideshare accident attorney is well-versed in the laws and rules that impact these legal matters. We would be proud to lend valuable legal support to assist you through the claims process.

What Should You Do After a Lyft or Uber Accident in McAllen, TX?

If you are involved in an accident with a Lyft or Uber driver, the following steps can help you protect your right to fair compensation for damages:

Call 911 to report the accident to the police and wait for them to arrive
Take photographs of the accident scene and make a video of the entire area
Do not discuss the accident with anyone other than the police officer and an attorney
Ask eyewitnesses for their names and telephone numbers in case they leave without speaking to the police officer
Seek prompt medical treatment for your injuries to avoid accusations of failing to mitigate damages and other disputes related to injuries

From here, you should talk with a McAllen Uber/Lyft accident lawyer as soon as possible. The Law Office of Lino H. Ochoa is here to help you after an accident involving an Uber or Lyft driver. We understand the complex issues involved in rideshare accident cases.

What Happens if You Are Partially to Blame for Causing a Rideshare Accident in Texas?

If you were injured in a rideshare accident and contributed to the cause of the crash, you might be entitled to a portion of your damages. Texas’s contributory fault law bars victims from recovering damages if they are more than 50% to blame for causing the accident.

However, if you are less than 51% at fault, you can receive some compensation for your damages. The court reduces the amount the jury awards for damages by the percentage of fault the jury assigns to you for causing the accident.

Insurance companies often use comparative negligence to avoid paying the full value of a car accident claim. With multiple insurance companies involved in a rideshare service accident case, you can expect at least one insurance adjuster to try the contributory fault argument.

What is the Deadline for Filing a McAllen Uber/Lyft Accident Lawsuit in Texas?

The Texas statute of limitations for most personal injury cases is two years, including car accident claims. Therefore, you should have two years from the accident date to file an Uber accident lawsuit.

However, there are exceptions to the two-year rule. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to seek legal advice as soon as possible after any auto accident. Our McAllen personal injury attorney, serving South Texas, can calculate the deadline for filing a lawsuit during your free consultation.

What Other Related Practice Areas Does Our Law Firm Represent?

In addition to representing injured victims in rideshare accident cases, Uber and Lyft accident lawyer Lino H. Ochoa represents clients in several other related practice areas under personal injury law.

These include the following:

Bad-faith insurance tactics
Bicycle accidents
Bus collisions
Catastrophic injuries, including spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries
Commercial truck accidents
Construction zone accidents
Dump truck accidents
Injuries to children
Motorcycle accidents
Other types of motor vehicle accidents
Pedestrian accidents
Workers’ compensation claims
Wrongful death accidents
And more

Visit Our Personal Injury Law Office in McAllen, TX

The Law Office of Lino H. Ochoa

6316 N 10th St Building D, Suite 102
McAllen, Texas, 78504

Phone: 956-707-3610

Hours: Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm

Schedule a Free Case Evaluation with Our McAllen Uber and Lyft Accident Lawyer Today

A rideshare accident can have devastating consequences for the accident victims. At The Law Office of Lino H. Ochoa, our car accident lawyer will fight to obtain the best possible outcome for your case. We serve Hidalgo County and its surrounding areas.

These legal matters are far more complicated than the typical car accident case and frequently require the professional guidance of experienced attorneys. Personal injury lawyer Lino H. Ochoa has over 25 years of legal experience representing the rights of injured victims in and around McAllen, Texas. Our law office has a strong reputation and a proven track record of success helping our clients recover the settlements they deserve and require.

Our personal injury law firm operates on a contingency fee basis, meaning that we do not charge attorney’s legal fees unless and until we secure a settlement for your case. Additionally, we offer free consultations to all prospective new clients interested in retaining our legal services. To learn more about how we can assist you during this difficult time, please schedule your risk-free consultation with our legal team.

Request a free case review from an experienced McAllen Lyft and Uber accident attorney. Contact us today at 956-707-3610.