Author: Adam Morris

Ordering an Uber or Lyft has become one of the most popular ways to travel from one place to another, so it should not be shocking that accidents among rideshare drivers have become an issue. In fact, a study conducted by professors at the University of Chicago and Rice University determined that the launch of ride-sharing platforms, such as Uber or Lyft, in a new city is associated with a 2-3% increase in the number of fatal accidents and motor vehicle fatalities. Additionally, some research shows that rideshare drivers are also contributing to increased congestion on the roads, which in turn contributes to a higher rate of collisions because of the increased number of cars on the road. So, before you schedule your next ride, here is some information to keep you informed in the event that the rideshare vehicle you are traveling in is involved in an accident.

What should I do if the Uber or Lyft vehicle I am riding in is involved in an accident?

First, as with any motor vehicle collision, make sure that all involved parties are safe and notify law enforcement and medical personnel, but you should also contact the rideshare company and report the incident.

Second, if it is safe to do so, take photos of the scene. Photos should include all the vehicles involved in the collision including the Uber or Lyft vehicle. Also, be sure to check for traffic or security cameras surrounding the area of the collision. Video documentation provides additional evidence that will support your claim.

Third, you should collect contact information for the driver of your vehicle, other passengers if it is a pool-share ride, and the driver of the other involved vehicle(s).

As always, you can refer to our evidence collection blogs to determine what other information should be collected at the scene.

How do Uber and Lyft Insurance Policies Work?

Both Uber and Lyft carry an insurance policy for personal injury, property damage, and death that is caused by their drivers during an active ride. An “active ride” usually begins from the time the ride is requested until it is cleared when the passenger is dropped off at their location. This policy can cover damages including your injuries, the past and future costs of medical treatment for injuries, lost income due to injury, and past and future physical or mental pain and suffering.

• It should also be noted that the coverage for both Uber and Lyft is based upon the driver’s activities at the time of the accident, which means that coverage may not be available on a particular accident and may revert to the driver’s personal insurance policy. Below are examples of Uber and Lyft policies regarding coverage:
• Uber and Lyft are not liable for any accidents that occur when drivers are not working.
• If an Uber or Lyft driver has their app on and can work, both the Uber or Lyft policy and the driver’s insurance policy will go into effect should a collision occur.
• If a passenger is in an Uber or Lyft driver’s vehicle and a collision does occur it will be covered by the rideshare company’s insurance policy.

As you can see, being involved in a collision while in a rideshare vehicle is a very complicated issue and requires the guidance of an experienced personal injury attorney to speak with the insurance company, and, if necessary, the court on your behalf. If you were the passenger in an Uber or Lyft motor vehicle collision, the attorneys at Plymale & Dingus at 614-542-0220 so we can help you get the compensation that you deserve.

If you have been injured in a store, on someone else’s property, or even your own property, it can be a frightening experience.  However, it is important that you stop, gather yourself, and make sure that you collect the proper evidence to help support your claim and, if necessary, a lawsuit.

When you have been injured by an object in a store, or from a slip or fall, there is no dedicated line to call for someone to come out and investigate the situation.  Therefore, the evidence collection often falls on you, or a friend or family member you call upon to help you.  In these types of incidents, early evidence collection can be the difference between a successful or unsuccessful injury claim or lawsuit.  To avoid that situation, our office recommends that you take the following steps to protect yourself:

• If it is safe to do so, take photographs or video of the area around where the incident took place, specifically what caused the incident (i.e., what you fell on, what cut or injured you, etc.).  In these types of incidents, the surrounding area is incredibly important and should be completely documented to the best of your ability. 

• If you have been injured in a business, once you have documented what caused the incident, move to a safe location, and ask to speak with manager or safety personnel to complete an incident report. If you have been injured on someone else’s property, then, after documenting what caused the incident, step away from the situation, and take the time to write down what has happened.  When creating an incident report be sure to include the following information:
  • Date, time, and location of the incident
  • Names of everyone involved, including witnesses
  • Events that led up to the incident
  • Environmental conditions (sun, rain, snow, etc.)
  • Circumstances of the slip or fall
  • Specific injuries
  • Damage to equipment or area
  • Request that all video footage be collected and saved in anticipation for a possible claim

• While at the scene, take pictures of any visible bruising or other injuries as well as any marks or rips to your clothing. If you have fallen, you should also make sure to photograph the entire outfit you were wearing that day.

• Take the time to look around the general area of the incident and determine if any businesses or homes in the area may have cameras that could have captured the slip or fall. Business or residential cameras usually only retain recordings for 24-72 hours, so if you have been injured in a business, it is important to speak with manager or safety personnel to gather those tapes before the footage is destroyed. If you are having issues gathering the video documentation, it may be in your best interest to involve an attorney quickly because video documentation can be the deciding factor if there is a dispute as to the cause of the fall.
  
  
• If there are witnesses to the incident, attempt to get their contact information, including their name and phone number, as well as a brief account of what they saw. Independent witnesses can provide additional credibility to your claim and can be used to help your case if necessary.

If you are transported from the scene via ambulance, you will have to rely on the business or property owner accurately documenting all the information and then potentially creating an incident report that may reflect their best interests rather than yours. However, to protect yourself, you may want to return to the scene after you are released or send a friend or family member to safely document the above information if possible.

Although collecting the information discussed may seem exhausting, having as much information about the incident as possible will allow insurance companies or attorneys to evaluate your claim and/or lawsuit more accurately. Once you have collected the evidence, your next step should be contacting a personal injury attorney that will use that information to protect your interests and provide you with the compensation that you deserve. If you have been injured in a slip or fall and would like to work with the attorneys at Plymale & Dingus, please fill out the contact form on this page or call us at 614-542-0220.

If you have been injured in a store, on someone else’s property, or even your own property, it can be a frightening experience.  However, it is important that you stop, gather yourself, and make sure that you collect the proper evidence to help support your claim and, if necessary, a lawsuit.

When you have been injured by an object in a store, or from a slip or fall, there is no dedicated line to call for someone to come out and investigate the situation.  Therefore, the evidence collection often falls on you, or a friend or family member you call upon to help you.  In these types of incidents, early evidence collection can be the difference between a successful or unsuccessful injury claim or lawsuit.  To avoid that situation, our office recommends that you take the following steps to protect yourself:

• If it is safe to do so, take photographs or video of the area around where the incident took place, specifically what caused the incident (i.e., what you fell on, what cut or injured you, etc.).  In these types of incidents, the surrounding area is incredibly important and should be completely documented to the best of your ability. 

• If you have been injured in a business, once you have documented what caused the incident, move to a safe location, and ask to speak with manager or safety personnel to complete an incident report. If you have been injured on someone else’s property, then, after documenting what caused the incident, step away from the situation, and take the time to write down what has happened.  When creating an incident report be sure to include the following information:
  • Date, time, and location of the incident
  • Names of everyone involved, including witnesses
  • Events that led up to the incident
  • Environmental conditions (sun, rain, snow, etc.)
  • Circumstances of the slip or fall
  • Specific injuries
  • Damage to equipment or area
  • Request that all video footage be collected and saved in anticipation for a possible claim

• While at the scene, take pictures of any visible bruising or other injuries as well as any marks or rips to your clothing. If you have fallen, you should also make sure to photograph the entire outfit you were wearing that day.

• Take the time to look around the general area of the incident and determine if any businesses or homes in the area may have cameras that could have captured the slip or fall. Business or residential cameras usually only retain recordings for 24-72 hours, so if you have been injured in a business, it is important to speak with manager or safety personnel to gather those tapes before the footage is destroyed. If you are having issues gathering the video documentation, it may be in your best interest to involve an attorney quickly because video documentation can be the deciding factor if there is a dispute as to the cause of the fall.
  
  
• If there are witnesses to the incident, attempt to get their contact information, including their name and phone number, as well as a brief account of what they saw. Independent witnesses can provide additional credibility to your claim and can be used to help your case if necessary.

If you are transported from the scene via ambulance, you will have to rely on the business or property owner accurately documenting all the information and then potentially creating an incident report that may reflect their best interests rather than yours. However, to protect yourself, you may want to return to the scene after you are released or send a friend or family member to safely document the above information if possible.

Although collecting the information discussed may seem exhausting, having as much information about the incident as possible will allow insurance companies or attorneys to evaluate your claim and/or lawsuit more accurately. Once you have collected the evidence, your next step should be contacting a personal injury attorney that will use that information to protect your interests and provide you with the compensation that you deserve. If you have been injured in a slip or fall and would like to work with the attorneys at Plymale & Dingus, please fill out the contact form on this page or call us at 614-542-0220.

If you are in a motor vehicle collision, it can be a scary and confusing experience. However, the time immediately following a collision is the best time to begin collecting evidence that can help you in building your insurance claim, and, if necessary, a lawsuit.

Many times, police may be unable to come to the scene of the accident if they are otherwise occupied or the incident does not require immediate medical attention or transport. In fact, you may be told to “exchange information and let insurance figure it out.” The problem with that statement is that insurance company representatives are not at the scene and each company will take their insured’s recollection of events as fact, which results in a “you said, they said” situation. In an effort to avoid that situation, our office recommends that you take the following steps to protect yourself:

• If it is safe to do so, take photographs or video of all the vehicles involved in the collision before they are moved. This should only be done if it is absolutely safe, there is no reason for anyone to incur injuries to preserve evidence. However, if this is not possible, take pictures of as much as you can while you remain in the car until it is safe.
• Move to a safe location to exchange information and collect the following:
  • Pictures of all license plates
  • Pictures of drivers’ licenses of the involved parties
  • Pictures of insurance card or write down the other driver’s insurance information
• While at the scene, take pictures of the damage to the vehicles involved. These pictures should include:
  • Damage to all vehicles involved in the accident.
  • Traffic control devices including stop signs, yield signs, traffic lights, crosswalks, etc.
  • Pictures of the intersection, any road markings, and any marking from the vehicles such as skid marks, lost fluids, etc.
• Take the time to look around the general area of the accident and determine if any businesses, homes, or intersections in the area may have cameras that could have captured the collision. Often, businesses will only retain recordings for 24-72 hours and so reaching out to them prior to speaking with an attorney, or getting an attorney involved ASAP is critical if there could be a potential dispute as to the cause of the collision.
• If there are witnesses to the incident, attempt to get their contact information, including their name and phone number, as well as a brief account of what they saw. Independent witnesses can provide additional credibility to your claim and can be used to help your case if necessary.

If police do respond to the scene, many times they may not always collect all the above information to make their determination if a citation will be issued. If a citation is issued to the other driver, then the driver may pay the ticket or attempt to fight it in court. If they dispute the citation, you may be subpoenaed to testify as to the events of the citation. It is important that you appear to testify because if you do not, and if the ticket is dismissed, it may make your insurance claim or civil suit more difficult.

In the event that you are transported from the scene via ambulance, you will have to rely on police accurately documenting all the information and then creating the report. However, to protect yourself you may want to send a friend or family member to document the above information if possible—especially as to the existence of a video of the incident since most businesses only retain footage for a short period of time.

Unfortunately, many times people do not do the right thing, and although collecting all of the information listed above may seem like overkill, it is absolutely essential that you gather as much evidence as possible in order to protect yourself and your interests.

Protecting yourself and your family in the event of a motor vehicle collision begins well before a collision ever occurs. In fact, it begins before anyone gets behind the wheel. As the weather begins to break and quarantine restrictions are lifted, we will begin to see an increase in the number of drivers on the roadways. Now is a great time to reach out to your insurance agent to review and make any necessary changes to your motor vehicle insurance policy. Or, if you do not have insurance, it is the perfect time to investigate and purchase appropriate coverage. Remember, in the State of Ohio, you must be insured to operate a motor vehicle on public roads. Below we will discuss the different types of coverage and protections that you can purchase for your car.

COMPREHENSIVE: Comprehensive, or “non-collision” coverage, is a protective coverage that includes damage to your vehicle that was not caused by a collision with another motor vehicle, such as theft, vandalism, or hitting an animal. This type of coverage usually has a deductible, but it covers a wide range of incidents, whether you are in the vehicle or it is parked. This is great coverage to have but is not required in the State of Ohio.

COLLISION: Collision coverage is a protective coverage that covers damage to your vehicle caused by a collision with another vehicle, a stationary object such as a tree, or a single-car accident. Collision coverage usually has a deductible and can be used if either you or someone else caused the damage to your vehicle. Additionally, this coverage is also not required in the State of Ohio.

LIABILITY: Liability coverage is a protective coverage that covers damage to another person’s motor vehicle or body caused by a collision where you are the at-fault party. Liability Coverage is required by law in State of Ohio. All properly insured Ohio drivers must carry, at minimum, $25,000/$50,000 in bodily injury liability and $25,000 in property damage liability coverage. This means that if you or another authorized driver causes a collision in your car, your insurance will pay up to a maximum of $25,000 per person injured, or a maximum total of $50,000 if multiple persons are injured, and up to a maximum of $25,000 in property damage to the vehicle and personal belongings of the other driver. These liability limits can be higher than the state minimums with some personal policies containing limits of $250,000/$500,000. However, it is always important to review your policy to determine who will and will not be covered if they drive your vehicle to avoid a denial of coverage.

UNINSURED MOTORISTS/UNDERINSURED MOTORISTS: Uninsured/Underinsured coverage is a protective coverage that covers you and/or your passengers for injuries suffered in a collision if your damages exceed the liability policy limits of the at-fault individual (underinsured) or if the at-fault driver did not have insurance coverage at the time of the collision (uninsured). This type of coverage is also not required in Ohio; however, having uninsured/underinsured policy coverage in place will allow you to collect on damages that exceed the at-fault parties liability policy limits. Take note, while most insurance policies provide uninsured/underinsured coverage in the same amount as the amount of your liability coverage, the amounts are not required to be identical; however, the amount of such coverage may not exceed the amount of your liability coverage. From our experience, we advise our clients to make sure that their insurance policies contain uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and that the coverage limits match those of the liability limits. Therefore, it is always important to review your policy to determine what will and will not be covered under this section of your policy.

MEDICAL PAYMENTS: Medical payments coverage is a protective coverage that covers you or your passenger’s medical expenses, irrespective of fault. This type of coverage is not required in Ohio; however, we always advise our clients to ensure that such coverage is included in their insurance policies. Medical Payments coverage can be as little as $1,000 per person; however, we always recommend that our clients purchase coverage in a greater amount. Some insurance policies contain coverage of up to $100,000 per person, although the majority of policies contain limits of between $5,000 and $25,000 per person in coverage. This coverage can be used to satisfy out-of-pocket medical expenses that are not covered by health insurance, including deductibles. Oftentimes, this coverage must be exhausted before a health insurance carrier will pay medical expenses incurred as a result of a collision with an at-fault driver (e.g. Medicare).

UMBRELLA: Umbrella coverage is a protective coverage that covers you in case of a serious incident that exceeds your coverage limits, including liability coverage and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. This coverage is also not required in Ohio. Most insurance companies offering umbrella policies usually require $250,000/$500,00 in an underlying motor vehicle insurance policy as a condition of coverage. Most umbrella polices provide coverage of at least $1,000,000 and can be purchased in greater amounts as well. Some insurance companies only have umbrella policies that relate to liability coverage, but others have umbrella policies that relate to uninsured/underinsured coverage. Therefore, it is always important to review your policy to determine what will and will not be covered under this section of your policy.

GAP: Gap coverage is a protective coverage that is not usually available through a motor vehicle insurance company but could play a significant role in a claim involving a new or newer vehicle. This type of coverage is not required in Ohio. Gap coverage is usually available through car dealerships or other third-party companies and protects the gap between the fair market value of a totaled vehicle and the outstanding amount owed on a car loan at the time of the incident. This is important in newer vehicles or vehicles purchased at high interest from used car lots because the actual value of the vehicle could be less than what is still owed on the purchase price.

This information may not cover every available detail of a motor vehicle insurance policy and as always, a premium must be paid for each added policy provision. Other provisions such as rental and tow coverage are equally important to consider. An insurance policy can only protect you to the extent of the coverages that you purchase, Reviewing your policy and declarations page is important to know exactly what situations will and will not be covered in case of a collision or other unfortunate event involving your motor vehicle. Setting a time with your insurance agent to review your policies can save you time and money in the long run. Moreover, reviewing your homeowner’s or renter’s policy at the same time as your motor vehicle insurance policy will give you the bigger picture of how all your assets and family are protected.

Unfortunately, some drivers on the road do not carry valid insurance. If you are in a collision caused by an uninsured driver, then your insurance policy with uninsured coverage will protect you for your treatment and injuries. The amount of uninsured coverage you carry depends on the level of protection you want for yourself and your family. This is usually coupled with underinsured coverage, which will provide you added protection if the driver that caused the incident was insured, but for an amount less than your treatment and injuries. If you are struck by a driver with a state minimum $25,000 policy, but your losses are greater than that amount, you will only be able to collect $25,000 from that individuals policy, but can then use your underinsured coverage to cover the difference. Medpay is another option to have for payment of bills or out of pocket expenses while a settlement or resolution is worked towards.

Police who arrive at the scene are tasked with several responsibilities, providing safe travel for other drivers, protecting the scene, determining liability, talking with involved parties, talking with witnesses. Unfortunately, this does not always result in a full report to protect your interests if you are injured and need to open an injury claim.

Should do own investigation at scene, within the bounds of safety and practicality. Photographs should be taken of the incident scene before vehicles are moved if possible, never put yourself in secondary danger if this is not feasible. Collect the information of the other driver, including pictures of driver’s license and insurance cards. Collect information from witnesses, names, addresses, phone numbers. Make note of the surroundings, if any businesses may have cameras that would capture the events. Businesses and municipality cameras have varying time for saving data often between 24-72 hours before that video is taped over. This is more important in situations where police who arrive at the scene do not determine a liable party or it is an incident where police do not respond to the scene for some reason.