Boulder Uber & Lyft Accident Lawyer

Many Boulder residents rely on rideshare apps, such as Uber or Lyft, to travel from place to place. Although these companies purport to provide a safe mode of transportation, accidents can occur involving rideshare vehicles, injuring other drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

If you are in an accident with a rideshare driver, you may be eligible to file an insurance claim or lawsuit against the at-fault driver. In these situations, the Boulder Uber & Lyft accident lawyer at Purvis Thomson, LLP can represent your claim and help you recover the compensation you deserve.

Why Choose Us

Our Boulder personal injury attorneys prioritize our clients’ health and well-being above everything else. We dedicate ourselves to providing compassionate, respectful, and well-informed representation.
Rideshare accident claims are often complex. Our firm has a strong understanding of these claims and will leverage our experience, skills, and resources to craft a compelling claim in your favor.
The aftermath of a rideshare accident can be painful. Our attorneys will handle your case on your behalf, allowing you to focus on recovery instead of complex litigation.

Boulder Uber & Lyft Accident Resources

Compensation Available to Uber & Lyft Accident Victims
Uber & Lyft Frequently Asked Questions
Filing an Insurance Claim After a Rideshare Accident
Steps to Take After a Rideshare Accident in Colorado
Contact a Boulder Uber & Lyft Accident Attorney

Compensation Available to Me After an Uber/Lyft Accident

There may be various types of compensation available to an Uber or Lyft accident victim if their claim is successful. Our team works diligently to help clients recover both economic and non-economic damages after a rideshare accident occurs in the Boulder area.

Economic damages (special damages) – These types of losses revolve around the specific, measurable damages associated with the rideshare accident. Our team will work with economic experts to analyze receipts and bills a client receives or is expected to receive to help adequately calculate the following:
- Emergency medical expenses associated with the crash
- Any ongoing hospital or doctor follow-up visits
- Rehabilitation or physical therapy expenses
- The cost of any medications or medical devices
- Lost wages if a crash victim is unable to work
- Property damage expenses (not only vehicle damage)
Non-economic damages (general damages) – Non-economic damages revolve around less measurable expenses associated with rideshare accidents. Even though there are no direct receipts or bills associated with the following, compensation for these losses is equally as important:
- Physical pain and suffering damages
- Psychological and emotional pain and suffering damages
- Loss of quality of life damages
- Scarring and disfigurement damages

How Much Compensation is Available?

There is no set amount of compensation paid to rideshare accident victims in Boulder. There are several factors that could influence the total insurance settlement or personal injury jury verdict amount. Some of these factors include:

The overall severity of the injury
How long it takes a victim to recover
Insurance policy amount limitations
Whether or not there was any shared fault

We encourage you to speak to your attorney about how much compensation you may be able to expect. One thing that we do want you to be aware of is that the initial settlement offer from an insurance carrier will likely be far below what you should actually receive for your claim. If you have engaged in any negotiations with the insurance carriers, you need to turn the case over to your attorney. Your car accident attorney in Boulder will handle this communication and vigorously negotiate to recover the compensation you are entitled to, not what the insurance carrier “thinks” you are entitled to.

Uber & Lyft Frequently Asked Questions

Why Should I Hire a Boulder Uber & Lyft Accident Lawyer?

After an Uber or Lyft accident occurs, individuals need compensation. However, the process of recovering compensation, whether through an insurance settlement or as a result of a personal injury jury verdict, is complicated.

A skilled Uber and Lyft accident attorney in Boulder can help with every aspect of the claim. The role of an attorney in these cases is multifaceted and includes the following:

Offering a free consultation to help you understand your options moving forward
Conducting an investigation into the incident to determine liability
Handling all communication with other parties involved in the incident
Engaging in negotiations with insurance carriers and other parties to receive a fair settlement
Fully preparing the case for a trial by jury if one becomes necessary

The process of securing compensation could take some time, and it will certainly take resources. When an attorney handles your case, they will be the ones to take the time to fully investigate and prepare the claim for any eventual outcome. Your lawyer handles all of this so you can focus on recovering from your injuries and getting back to your normal life. An Uber or Lyft accident attorney will keep you and your family up to date on any progress in the case.

How Much Does an Attorney Cost After an Uber or Lyft Accident?

A skilled rideshare accident attorney is more affordable than you may think. At Purvis Thomson, LLP, we proudly handle Uber and Lyft accident claims on a contingency fee basis. For our clients, this means a few things. First, clients pay absolutely no legal fees until after we win the case and recover compensation for their losses. We handle all of the upfront costs related to the case. Clients pay nothing out-of-pocket.

If we do not win the case, clients pay absolutely nothing at all. We believe that this type of fee arrangement helps individuals, regardless of their current financial status, stand up to alleged negligent parties to recover compensation for their losses.

How Long Will the Case Take?

There is no specific amount of time for how long an Uber or Lyft accident case will take in the Boulder area of Colorado. There are several factors that can influence the time frames associated with these types of claims.

These cases typically start with a claim against the insurance carriers, and if fault is relatively clear, an insurance carrier may offer a settlement within a few weeks after the incident occurs. However, that is a best-case scenario and also not likely to occur. Negotiations with insurance carriers can drag on for quite some time, including months or even more than a year.

In the event that the insurance carriers refuse to offer a fair settlement, it may be necessary to file a civil personal injury lawsuit against an alleged negligent party in order to recover compensation. Claims in civil court can take even longer to resolve, maybe even multiple years. However, there are often negotiations while the case is ongoing that lead to a settlement before a trial becomes necessary.

Who Is Liable for a Rideshare Accident?

Colorado is a fault-based insurance state, meaning that drivers who are responsible for car accidents must pay for their victims’ damages. During a rideshare accident, the party who is responsible for the collision may be the rideshare driver or another driver who collides with the rideshare vehicle. In some cases, the manufacturer of a defective auto part may be liable for the collision.

If you are injured in a rideshare accident, you have multiple options for compensation. If another driver who is not a rideshare contractor caused the collision, you can file an insurance claim or lawsuit against him or her. Cases involving defective auto parts will require a product liability lawsuit. If the rideshare driver is responsible for the collision, however, the process for obtaining compensation becomes more complex.

Filing an Insurance Claim After a Rideshare Accident

Rideshare companies consider their drivers to be independent contractors, not employees. This means that the company is not liable for any accidents that occur while its drivers are providing rides to its customers. However, Uber and Lyft do provide drivers with certain amounts of liability coverage in the event of an accident.

If the driver is logged into the app but has not accepted a ride, he or she receives up to $50,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $100,000 in total liability coverage, and $25,000 in property damage.
If the driver has accepted a trip and en route to the passenger, or has a passenger in the vehicle, the company provides up to $1 million in liability coverage.
If the driver is not logged into the app, he or she is not covered by the company’s insurance.

You cannot file a claim against the rideshare insurance until you have exhausted the driver’s personal insurance policy. If the rideshare company denies coverage after you file a claim, you can file a lawsuit against the rideshare driver. Since the company is not technically the driver’s employer, you cannot file a lawsuit against Uber or Lyft directly after the car accident.

Steps to Take After a Rideshare Accident

Uber or Lyft accident victims in Boulder should take a range of steps soon after the incident occurs. Some of the steps we discuss here will need to occur on the day of the incident, but others may take place in the days after the crash:

Seek medical care. After any vehicle accident, the number one priority for those involved is medical care. Individuals with obvious injuries need to go to the hospital right away, but even those who may not feel much pain or no pain at all still need to go to the doctor for an evaluation. Often, the signs and symptoms of rideshare accident injuries do not appear until hours or even days after the incident occurs. Additionally, by seeking prompt medical treatment after an Uber or Lyft accident, you are establishing a solid link between any injuries that do occur and the actual incident. This will be important for showing insurance carriers or a personal injury.
Contact law enforcement. Nearly every vehicle accident that occurs in Colorado must be reported to law enforcement officials. If you have been involved in an Uber or Lyft accident, you need to make sure the police come to the scene to conduct an initial investigation and fill out an accident report. You will need this report when working to recover compensation through the insurance carriers.
Gather information. Even though a police report will likely contain much of the evidence you need, we encourage you to gather information at the scene of the incident. After a rideshare accident, some of the most important information you can gather include vehicle license plate numbers, insurance information for every driver involved, as well as the contact information for any eyewitnesses to the incident.
Collect evidence. There may be various types of evidence that you can gather at the scene of the incident. Perhaps the most valuable will be photographs you take with your phone or some other type of device. This can include photographs of vehicle damage, injuries, debris around the area, possible causes of the crash, traffic and weather conditions, and more. Look around to see if there are any video cameras that may have caught footage of the incident. Your attorney can later work to obtain this footage.
Report the incident through the rideshare app. Both Uber and Lyft have ways to report any incidents that occur through the rideshare apps. You should report the rideshare crash as soon as possible but do not go into much detail. Simply follow through with the process of reporting the incident through the app and refer any further communication to your attorney.
Contact an attorney. A skilled Uber or Lyft accident lawyer in Boulder should get involved in your case as soon as possible. Preferably, a phone call will be made to an attorney the same day the incident occurs. Your lawyer can take over every aspect of the case so you can focus on recovering from your injuries.
Continue medical treatment. It is crucial for rideshare accident victims to continue medical treatments recommended by their healthcare professionals. Any early discontinuation of care against medical advice could be taken as a sign by the insurance carriers that you do not need as much compensation as you have requested.

Contact a Boulder Uber & Lyft Accident Attorney

If you are injured in a Boulder rideshare accident, the attorneys at Purvis Thomson, LLP can help. We have represented injured Colorado residents since 1985 and can help you secure the compensation you deserve. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with our Boulder Uber & Lyft accident lawyer and learn more about your path to recovery.

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