Uber Accident Attorney in Decatur, GA

Why Do You Need a Decatur Uber Accident Lawyer?

Experiencing long-term, life-altering injuries in an Uber accident may entitle you and your family to substantial benefits to cover the costs linked to your injuries. While it would be ideal if you were automatically awarded the full amount you deserve automatically after an accident, that is not the case. Instead, you’ll need to file a claim with the insurance company of Uber and potentially the insurer of the driver if they carry additional rideshare insurance, a claim that proves your damages and convinces the for-profit company to lose money to pay you in full. 

As many injured persons learn, it is not simple to collect damages and can be even harder to accurately estimate what those damages are in the long-term. Working with an experienced Decatur Uber accident lawyer from Michael M. Day Law Firm, LLC will ensure that sufficient evidence is gathered to fully measure your damages, then prove it to the insurance company or the court if filing a lawsuit is necessary. 

How an Uber Accident Lawyer Can Help You

Here are some of the many ways our legal team can help you after an Uber accident. An experienced attorney can guide you through the claims process, protect your rights, and fight for the compensation you deserve.

Protecting You From Trick Tactics and Harassment

When it comes to determining legal liability for an accident and determining who has to pay for the injuries and damage, what happened before the accident is important, but what happens after the accident is important too. If you say “I’m sorry” to anyone at any time after the crash—even if you just say it to be polite or express sympathy—your words can be used by the insurance company as an admission that you are accepting responsibility for the accident. 

Or if you say “I’m fine” to reassure others or you don’t get medical treatment quickly, those words and actions can also be used to deny your claim for the injuries you suffer. You need to be extremely cautious about what you say and do after an Uber accident.

Insurance companies and possibly representatives from the rideshare company may demand that you answer questions and provide a statement. They may offer an undervalued settlement and pressure you to accept it before you have time to assess the full extent of your injuries and know what your claim is truly worth.

When you work with a dedicated Uber accident attorney, your legal advisor can protect you from all of it. If someone asks you a question, you just tell them to talk to your attorney. You are spared the harassing phone calls so you can focus on putting your life back together. And because a knowledgeable accident lawyer knows what to say and do to protect your rights after an accident, you won’t have to worry about making a mistake that could hurt you in the long run.

Investigating and Gathering Evidence

To recover compensation for your losses after an Uber accident, you need to be able to prove that someone else caused the accident and resulting injuries. This requires extensive amounts of evidence. When an accident involves an Uber driver, corporate attorneys may descend quickly to eliminate evidence, so it is important to act fast to gather and preserve anything that can indicate causation.

Experienced attorneys understand how to locate and preserve evidence effectively. For instance, your attorney could get a subpoena to obtain footage from traffic cameras and security cameras before it can be erased or recorded over. Attorneys can help locate witnesses, and those witnesses are often more willing to speak to an attorney than to an unknown individual who contacts them out of the blue. Attorneys can also call on the services of experts at accident reconstruction who can take the evidence and prepare models or schematics showing the actions that led up to the accident.

Negotiating with Insurance Companies

Insurance companies often offer settlements early on in the process to tempt accident victims into thinking that they don’t need a lawyer because they’ve already “won” the case. However, the attorneys and adjusters who work for insurance companies have extensive experience valuing claims, and they will make initial offers that are far less than the claim’s actual value.

Personal injury attorneys who help Uber accident victims recover maximum compensation know that it can take time to understand the full value of a claim because it is necessary to determine what the long-term effects of the accident will be. An attorney can make an estimate at the beginning of the case and use that as a yardstick to measure the adequacy of settlement offers received. Usually, it will take extensive negotiation before the insurance company is willing to pay an amount even close to what the claim is worth. When doctors are able to give an informed opinion about the potential for maximum medical recovery and any long-term effects, then a skilled attorney will prepare a demand letter requesting full compensation for each and every consequence of the accident. It takes years of experience and intimate familiarity with legal precedent to be able to recognize and demonstrate the value of a claim, and it’s one of the most important services your attorney can provide for you.

Managing Discovery and Representation in Court

While it’s true that most accident injury cases settle out of court, insurance companies and corporate attorneys are only willing to settle for a fair amount after you’ve proven that you are prepared to succeed with your claim in court. It is often necessary to start the litigation process to get the results you are entitled to. 

A knowledgeable Uber accident lawyer can use the discovery process to gain valuable information during the early phases of the litigation process. If the insurance companies still refuse to provide fair compensation even after you’ve made arguments based on evidence in negotiation, then your attorney knows how to present the arguments and evidence to the judge to get the full damage award you are entitled to receive.

Your Decatur Uber Accident Lawyer Fights for Compensation in Different Situations

There are many different situations where an Uber driver can be held responsible for a car or truck accident. An experienced Decatur Uber accident lawyer at Michael M. Day Law Firm knows the legal and factual arguments to leverage in each situation to ensure that accident victims recover fair compensation for their losses. 

When a driver who causes an accident is under contract with Uber, compensation may be available through corporate insurance, but the case becomes far more complicated than most other accident cases. Whether you were hurt as a passenger in an Uber vehicle, the driver or passenger of another vehicle, or a pedestrian or cyclist injured in a collision triggered by an Uber driver, we work to gain the maximum compensation available from all potential sources. It is important to work quickly to thwart the efforts of corporate attorneys who will try to twist the circumstances against you to deny your right to compensation.

If You Were Injured While a Passenger in an Uber Vehicle

When you agree to pay an Uber driver to take you to your destination, you expect to arrive safely. In fact, many times, people hire a rideshare driver instead of driving themselves to reduce the risk of hurting themselves or others when they are in a situation where it might not be safe to drive. So, when you are injured as a passenger in an Uber vehicle, it seems tremendously unfair.

While you may have agreed to assume certain ordinary risks as a passenger, such as the risk that you might pinch your finger in the seatbelt buckle when fastening your belt, you did not agree to accept the risk of a negligent driver or dangerous defects in an Uber vehicle. For instance, you did not accept the risk that you might suffer damage to internal organs due to reckless driving or a defective seatbelt. An Uber accident lawyer can work to show how the Uber driver’s negligence led to the accident and caused your injuries so that you can receive compensation for the full range of your losses, both economic and non-economic.

In your position as a passenger, you may be able to provide valuable evidence about the factors that led to the accident, so it is important to be extremely careful with what you say to any insurance investigators or attorneys. They may try to take your words out of context to deny liability.

If an Uber Driver Caused a Collision with Your Vehicle

All drivers owe a duty of care to others on the road to follow safe driving practices. This includes paying attention to the task of driving rather than looking at cell phones for messages. Uber drivers often allow music, conversations, and information on screens to distract them from the extremely dangerous task of driving in Atlanta area traffic. It can be difficult to find the true cause of an accident involving an Uber driver, but at Michael M. Day Law Firm, we know how to dig deep to get the answers. We work to gain footage from traffic and security cameras that might show what happened in the moments before and during the accident. If you wait too long to look for this type of evidence, it can quickly become unavailable. We often work with accident reconstruction experts who can recreate collision dynamics to show what happened and who’s responsible.

If You Were Hit as a Pedestrian or Cyclist by a Rideshare driver

Uber drivers often become so concerned about earning tips from the passengers inside their vehicle and lining up people for the next rideshare that they ignore the people outside their vehicle. That lack of attention can have disastrous results for passengers and cyclists who lack the protection enjoyed by those inside vehicles. A Decatur Uber accident lawyer knows that injuries are often extremely serious when a pedestrian or bicycle rider is hit by a motorized vehicle, particularly the larger vehicles used by rideshare drivers. The team at Michael M. Day Law Firm fights for full and fair compensation for past, present, and future losses of those injured in an accident caused by an Uber driver.

When an Uber Driver is Uninsured or Underinsured

While Uber is supposed to provide insurance for their drivers, there are situations where that insurance may not be available because the driver is off the clock or operating in violation of a corporate rule. In that situation, the driver’s personal insurance would normally cover your losses, but what happens when the driver is not insured, or the insurance coverage is not enough to cover all of your losses?

Dealing with accidents involving uninsured and underinsured drivers can be frustrating, but there are often ways to receive compensation. We may be able to help you recover through your own insurance company or by seeking compensation from others involved in the accident because, very often, the negligence of more than one individual combine to cause an accident. Alternatively, there may be other avenues open to recover damages through legal action, and our team has the experience to know where to look and how to hold responsible parties accountable.

We Work to Obtain Recovery for Injuries in any Type of Uber Accident

At Michael M. Day Law Firm, we know that Uber accidents often result in serious injuries such as brain damage, crushed bones, internal organ damage, and injuries to the neck and spine that often grow worse over time and lead to permanent disability. When an Uber driver causes an accident, those who have pledged responsibility through insurance or other contractual obligations should do the right thing and pay full compensation to accident victims. Instead, they try to use their power to deny liability and devalue claims.You need an Uber accident lawyer who is prepared to fight for your right to recovery, and that’s just what you get with Michael M. Day. We work tirelessly to ensure you receive full and fair compensation for all of your injuries. To get our help with investigation and dealing with insurance companies, call us at (678) 589-4985 or contact us online now to schedule a free consultation.

Rideshare Accident Statistics 

The increase in rideshare activity on the roads across America has contributed to a positive increase of around 3 percent in traffic-accident fatalities since 2011. Between 2017 and 2018, Uber vehicles were involved in 97 fatal crashes, resulting in 107 deaths. Of these victims of fatal crashes, 21 percent of the crash victims were the rider, 21 percent were the driver, and the other 58 percent were third parties, whether other vehicles or pedestrians. Beyond these fatal crashes, rideshare vehicles are involved in thousands of crashes that result in serious injuries each year. 

Most Common Causes of Uber Accidents 

While driver negligence in varying forms is a leading cause of rideshare accidents, vehicle malfunctions and overworking can also result in accidents and injuries that entitle the victims to compensation over. It is important to understand that the driver or Uber is not going to automatically cover the present and future costs linked to your injuries. Instead, Uber’s insurance company will challenge your claim and do whatever possible to avoid paying you, as the less insurance companies pay to injured parties, the greater their profit margins are. Insurance companies work for the revenues their customers pay them and related profits, not the costs associated with payments made to injured persons. 

Distracted Driving is a Leading Cause of Georgia Car Accidents

Anytime a driver’s eyes are off the road, their mind is off their driving, or their hands are off the wheel, they are engaging in distracted driving. One of the most common forms of distracted driving is the use of a smartphone while driving, which given the ongoing need of Uber drivers to line up the next fare or rate their last is a common practice. Your lawyer will gather evidence to determine what the driver was doing in the moments leading up to the accident to identify when they are liable for the resulting injuries. 

Drowsy or Fatigued Driving Causes Georgia Car Crashes 

If you’ve ever read or observed news interviews with rideshare drivers, or heard about the ongoing class actions against independent contract rideshare drivers who feel they are being denied employee rights, you’ve likely heard of overworked rideshare drivers. Uber drivers are not paid when they are not transporting a fare, yet they may remain alert in their vehicle in an area of high business traffic in hopes of gaining fares and income. 

The lack of guaranteed income on behalf of Uber drivers can lead to long shifts, and ultimately drowsy or fatigued driving. When a driver continues on the road when they are fatigued, they are putting themselves, other drivers, pedestrians, and property at risk. Fatigue and drowsiness causes a drop in awareness, reaction times, and responsiveness to changes in road conditions. Such drivers are negligent, and will be liable for the damages linked to any injuries that you suffer. 

Aggressive Driving, Speeding, and Other Traffic Violations 

All drivers on the road are required to follow the rules and laws of Georgia, including speed limits, rules against aggressive and intoxicated driving, and stop signs and traffic signals. If an Uber driver is in a rush to get a fare to their destination as fast as possible to receive a 5-star rating and they speed and cause an accident, the driver will be liable for the damages as their breaking of traffic laws represented a breach of their duty to drive safely on the roads. 

Improper Maintenance and Vehicle Malfunctions 

Uber drivers are notorious for putting great numbers of miles on their vehicles, many of which are city miles that can be harder on vehicles. Without regular and ongoing maintenance, vehicles naturally break down, decreasing the effectiveness of brakes, suspension, and other key components of the vehicle that ensure safety on the road. While Uber may not provide for the maintenance of the vehicles of their drivers, the insurance of Uber and any additional rideshare insurance the driver might have will be responsible for your damages. 

Why Hire a Decatur Uber Accident Lawyer?

The experienced Georgia rideshare accident and personal injury lawyers from Michael M. Day Law Firm, LLC have many years of combined experience assisting persons who have been seriously injured in accidents caused by the negligence of others. Our firm has recovered over $65 million on behalf of our clients, and we have a 99% success rate on our cases. The numbers speak for themselves, and our experienced team is standing by to review the unique facts and circumstances of your accident to determine if we can help. 

How Much is My Decatur Uber Accident Injury Claim Worth? 

Determining the amount that your Uber accident injuries are worth requires the input of medical and occupational experts. The damages that are generally available to victims of Georgia car accidents with serious injuries include: 

• Short-term medical bills including the emergency room, pain medications, surgeries, and any other necessary treatments
• Long-term medical costs from the time of your injury through the remainder of your life, including rehabilitation, medications, counseling, and any other necessary related medical or mental health services 
• Lost wages and earnings in the short-term during recovery following your accident
• Any long-term impact on your earnings potential that your injuries result in, from the time of your injury through the remainder of your working life 

The injuries sustained from your Decatur Uber accident may entitle you to substantial amounts in damages, but you can only collect what you can prove with evidence. You’ll need to gather evidence to prove the amount in medical care and the long-term symptoms that you will suffer from a medical expert. An occupational expert analyzes the medical information linked to your injuries to determine if your symptoms will lead to disabilities that impact your capacity to maintain steady gainful employment. 

The ultimate amount that your Uber accident is worth is a common answer that attorneys give to their clients, and while it might not be what you want to hear, the simple answer is: it depends. It depends on the unique facts and circumstances of your situation, and the skill, experience, and know-how of the lawyer you work with on your claim or case. You can only collect damages that you can prove, and with our network of medical and occupational experts familiar with the car accident claims process, Michael M. Day Law Firm, LLC is poised to help you make the most of your claim. 

Discuss Your Case with a Decatur Uber Accident Lawyer

The time to contact a personal injury attorney to best serve your claim or case is as soon as possible after receiving emergency medical care at the scene of the accident. We can help walk you through some of the steps to begin gathering evidence in support of your case, such as documenting the scene of the accident with the camera on your phone, if you are able to. Contacting emergency medical personnel and law enforcement for assistance and to generate a report of the incident is recommended. 

As soon as you are able following your Decatur Uber accident, connect with Michael M. Day Law Firm, LLC. Our experienced attorneys will carefully review your case to determine if it is a fit with our firm. We will review the circumstances of the accident including the parties involved, the breadth of your injuries, and whether or not we might be able to mount a successful case on your behalf. To make the most of your initial consultation, have your initial medical bills following the accident available, any police reports from the scene, and other evidence that you may have gathered linked to your Uber accident. 

If we take your case, we only get paid if we win, and you have no out-of-pocket expenses, ever. 

Give us a call at (678) 616-9290 or schedule your free consultation now.