Legal Help
 

Hey all, I need some advice,

As you all know I posted I was in an accident in April, I was driving a passenger for lyft. Lyft insurance deductible is 2500.00 and since I had a passenger my insurance will not come into play.

I am going to take the driver to court and ask for 10,000.00, that amount included the damage to my car, lost wages, court fees, and car depreciation. My questing is may I include the owner of the car in my lawsuit? The driver and the owner are two different people.

Call Jungle Law.

https://www.thepitchkc.com/content/u...e-1024x683.png

Yeah, you can. It’s not a great cause of action but it’s doable.

Negligent entrustment can work depending on the fact pattern.

The father gave permission to drive with the knowledge that they did not have insurance.

Huh. Is that common for those services like Lyft and Uber? You'll have a separate insurance policy contingent on whether you're working or not?

Typically you need to inform your insurance that you will be driving. They need to add it to the policy, otherwise you will not be covered. I had a friend who was hit by a DoorDash driver. They did not inform their insurance, so they were basically an uninsured driver

This is correct, I have a rideshare endorsement.

Which covers me as secondary insurance but if I have a passenger in the car and an accident then Lyft's policy is the only one unless I am hit then then its the other person insurance if they have any.

Once you start using your vehicle to make money, you're a business, so your basic personal auto policy won't provide coverage during those windows of time.

Wow. That's ****ing shitty.

Yes it is,

but in 10 months I was able to pay off 60k in debt and I am now debt free.

Make this clear, I was not a fault and I have informed my insurance that I do this and have the rideshare endorsement on my policy on all 4 of my cars.

"I was driving a passenger for lyft."

"I am going to take the driver to court..."

Huh??

Lookin' sharp in that suit, DJ.

The drive who hit me, sorry,

The driver rear-ended me.

Wait, the car wasn't insured, or the kid wasn't insured? Assuming the kid was a legal driver, the car's policy should still apply. At least that's always been my understanding.

At least it wasn't Billay

Both.

I guess I'm confused why Lyft's policy wouldn't apply. They specifically call out uninsured motorist coverage in their online docs:

https://help.lyft.com/hc/e/all/artic...rty%20coverage

Yes but the deductible for that is still 2500.00


So again may I go after the car owner and driver to get the money I paid plus lost wages? or just the driver?

That right there is what we call a ‘colorable argument’…

As my favorite professor was fond of saying “hey, I’d argue it for money…”

He knowingly put an uninsured driver behind the wheel of his car and in so shopping exposed the public to a heightened and unreasonable amount of risk.

Like I said, negligent entrustment claims aren’t the best - they’re pretty attenuated and proving knowledge can be tough. But knew ‘or should have known’ can do some heavy lifting for you there.

And damn man, lower your deductibles. $2,500 is borderline uninsured. With a $500 deductible and adequate commercial riders, you just submit it to your carrier and let them deal with it.

My personal deductible is 250 and 100 of UM.

This is Lyfy comm insurance coverage. I have no control over that. That is what Lyft's coverage is for us drivers in my state.

Ah - so you're using what Lyft provides rather than carrying your own endorsements on your personal policy?

Because I'm sure you could get a commercial endorsement on your personal policy, pay a little higher monthly premiums but have better deductibles.

What type of insurance would the driver of the vehicle need to cover this?

I'm sure its state by state but I was under the impression that insurance followed the vehicle not the driver. Personal liability coverage through a homeowners policy maybe?

Generally curious and hope it works out for you.

Additionally, it still kinda seems like you may want to submit it through lyft, deal with having to pay your deductible and then see what you can due to pursue the deductible itself. Most carriers will pursue subrogation for something like that on your behalf and save you that headache but if what they're out of pocket is pretty deminimis they may not bother (unless your policy mandates that they do so).

Having an amount that's been 'liquidated' is just easier. If you can demonstrate 'look, I'm out exactly the $2,500 for my deductible' that's going to be easier than proving up your lost wages, diminution in value, etc... as those amounts can be pretty speculative.

No.

This is how it works.

Uber and Lyft only cover rideshare drivers during Periods 2 and 3 (collision and liability). Period 2 starts once you accept a ride request and are en route to your passenger, and Period 3 starts once your passenger gets into your car. But when you’re online and waiting for a request during Period 1, you have no collision coverage from Uber or Lyft and much lower liability limits.

As a rideshare driver, you’re most at risk during Period 1, since you won’t get any collision coverage from rideshare companies and your personal insurer likely won’t cover you during this time either Unless you have the rideshare endorsement which I have then I would only have to pay 100.00 for the UM and not my 250.00

But if you get into an accident with Lyft during periods 2 or 3, you’re covered – but you are subjected to Lyft’s $2,500 deductible. This means you have to pay $2,500 before Lyft insurance will kick in, depending on what type of additional auto insurance policy you have.

https://therideshareguy.com/what-hap...ent-with-lyft/

The link below explains it, My insurance would kick in as a secondary insurance and would reimburse me 2,250.00 because my ded is only 250.0 or in this case of UM, I would get 2400.00 back from my insurance.

Hire a hitman.

Would love to but the kid who hit me is Black and If I did that I would be labeled as a racist.

Quick Google search seems to indicate the drivers insurance could be used to cover damages if they're driving someone's car and the owner either doesn't have insurance or the damage exceeds their limits.

Sorry, off on my own tangent learning something new.

Best of luck.

So if your insurance is willing to stand in as secondary and reimburse your deductible, why bother with suing the guy?

Even if you get the judgment, he doesn't have to pay it. You've gotta figure out a way to get it paid. So then you have the headache of a garnishment action or some sort of hearing in aid of execution.

Are you concerned about your rates if your policy kicks in as secondary? If so, talk to your agent/adjuster and ask if it would be considered a chargeable event. It really shouldn't be, but I'm not up to speed on the intricacies of ride-share stuff.

Why would your insurance policy NOT pay for getting hit by an uninsured motorist?

Whether you were hauling lumber or driving a passenger, that does NOT alleviate the guilt of the 3rd party who hit you.

If your insurance company then drops you or jacks up your premium later, that is a separate issue.

Yeah, every state is a little different.

But typically the driver's insurance is primary and the owners can be used as secondary if necessary. Some states utilize a strict pro-rata breakdown but even that gets to be a pain in the ass to deal with.

I want to be reimbursed for what I am spending for his mistake.

He is at fault, he needs to pay me what I pay in order to get my car fixed. the amount of money I lost during the time my car could not be used, court fees and etc.

Policy exclusions.

For instance, if I took on Mr. Reroka's case here and ****ed it all up, it may be the same kind of case I've done under my policy 100 different times, but I'm not operating within the course of my duties for my law firm and as such, if Reroka's sues me, my malpractice carrier won't stand in because I was out there freelancing and have policy exclusions that specifically prohibit it.

And let me tell you how much I enjoy those exclusions every time I have a family member or friend (or family member's friend) say "Hey, you're a lawyer - can you...."?

DING, DING

But if your policy is standing in as secondarily liable, you're only out $250.

Then it's your CARRIER who is subrogated to your interests and can hold him liable for THEIR right of reimbursement. Any sums they paid to you pursuant to a valid pre-existing contractual obligation essentially 'transfer' to them as the new real party in interest.

It's a little more complicated than that - your policy probably allows directly for it so there's probably straight up assignment/contractual subrogation language that would kick in. But even if not, plain ol' doctrines of equitable subrogation are going to be effective enough.

And again 'he needs to pay me' will get you a court order saying it's owed and maybe a nice little investment mechanism since judgments in Missouri run at 9.0%. But it won't actually get you PAID unless/until you're able to take the necessary steps to get that money out of him. And that's often more difficult than securing the judgment itself.

I actually own that suit. Or something as near as makes no difference. It's my 'flashy' suit for using in St. Louis if I'm trying to pretend to be high falutin'.

I actually like it quite a bit. Nice cut; has the hand stitching at the edges (pin stiches or some shit like that). Kinda fun peacocking here and there.

I don't have that orange tie, though. Kinda feel like I need it now...

Policy exclusion,

My insurance wont stand as secondary in this case, cause I had a passenger.

My would only act as secondary for period 1 and 2, I was in 3.

IF the amount is under 10k, go to small claims court.
which is what I am speaking about right now.

So then I am confused.

Was this:

Mostly a tangent then? I'm guessing I lost track of your train of thought in there somewhere.

Eh, do what you will with it. I'll simply reiterate that collecting on judgments is a pain in the ass.

I hear ya,

So, the less pain in the ass move would be to just pay it myself and move on.

Thought this would be the case.

That guy drives a Camaro

The person who hit me accepted my offer to settle out of court. I pick up a check Saturday for 5k. A threat of me suing was enough to get a settlement.

Be careful.

You do anything to dick up your carriers rights to subrogation and they could come after you for it. But if the $5k keeps your carrier out of it altogether, that’s safe enough.

Antifreeze

Lol nice.

Sue the driver and owner. I did this a few years ago. "Other" driver was at fault and he was driving his girlfriends car. Got tired of dealing with it. Took him to court got a judgement and have been making his life miserable for the past 3 years. Have garnished his wages at 3 employers so far. Money was not the issue to me. Bastard actually told me to just let my insurance deal with it. Screw that. I am not one to "let it go".

5k covers the cost of the repairs without Lyft’s insurance paying anything.