With Halloween and the holidays right around the corner, people are using rideshare apps more than usual, as they go bar-hopping, try to figure out how to get everyone from one place to the next, or simply don’t want to deal with trying to find a parking spot during some of the busiest times of year. Convenient as rideshare apps may be, staying safe and knowing who is liable in the event of an accident can be challenging.

Here is what you need to know about what to do if you get into an auto accident while using a rideshare app, such as safety concerns involving these apps, who can be held liable in an accident, and more.

Factors Affecting The Safety Of Using Rideshare Apps

It used to be that we were cautioned against getting into strangers’ cars, but now, we pay strangers to take us places. As nice as it would be to trust that rideshare apps are safe, there are still hazards involved with using them. 

• Distracted driving. Rideshare drivers need to monitor their mobile devices to see where they are taking you and what to do. This can distract them from the road. Other distractions can include conversing with passengers, drinking and/or eating while driving, changing the music to passenger preference, and more.
• Impaired or reckless driving. Drivers may operate their vehicles under the influence or without a care for traffic laws, putting everyone’s safety at risk.
• Driver fatigue. Drivers may work long hours in order to make more money. This can lead to fatigue, which can negatively affect their driving.
• Driving in unfamiliar locations. Rideshare app drivers often go where they’ve never been before. This can cause them to be more easily distracted and more prone to errors, which can lead to accidents.
• Looking for passengers. Rideshare app drivers need to try to find their passengers, which can be challenging, especially in busy areas. This looking around can lead to accidents.
• Poor vehicle maintenance. Since their job involves their car, rideshare app drivers must ensure that their vehicle is safe to drive. Failure to do so increases the risk of malfunctions and accidents.
• Poor road conditions. If the roads the rideshare app driver is driving on are not maintained, this can impact the safety of all in the vehicle, such as if there are deep potholes or major cracks in the road.
• Violence. Rideshare app drivers may be violent to passengers. While background checks should prevent this, sometimes rideshare apps do not do their due diligence before hiring new drivers. 

Who Is Liable In These Auto Accidents?

Liability with auto accidents depends on a wide array of factors. Seeking the representation of a personal injury attorney will make navigating the complexities of liability and your options much easier. 

Multiple parties may be found liable for an auto accident. In certain cases, you may be able to file a suit against the rideshare app itself. Rideshare drivers and the companies themselves are required to carry auto liability insurance in order to provide coverage for those injured in auto accidents.

You may file a lawsuit against the rideshare app itself if the company acted negligently and said negligence contributed to your injuries. Such examples of negligence include: not conducting a thorough background check on the driver, not conducting assessments of the driver’s safety behind the wheel, and more. If the rideshare company knew or failed to check if a driver had a history of reckless driving or serious traffic violations and hired them anyway, you may be able to hold them liable for the accident. 

Liability can also be complicated by whether the driver was in the app or not, whether they’re on route to pick up a passenger or transporting a passenger, and more.

Other potentially liable parties include:

• Another driver who caused the accident, rather than your rideshare app driver
• Manufacturers of defective vehicle parts
• Those who failed to maintain roads.
• And more.

It’s important to work with a personal injury attorney in order to determine liability in an auto accident so that you can achieve the compensation and justice you deserve. 

What Should You Do If You’re In An Auto Accident?

Whenever you’re in an auto accident, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible. Even if you feel fine, that could just be because of the adrenaline pumping through your veins. It can take weeks or even months to notice symptoms from injuries resulting from an accident, such as with brain injuries. 

If you don’t seek medical attention, you may not receive the treatment you need in order to prevent complications. If you wish to pursue legal action, having medical records that prove that your injury resulted from the accident makes the process much smoother.

You will also want to contact the police, gather the information of those involved in the accident as well as that of any witnesses, and take pictures and videos of the accident, if possible. From there, you’ll want to call a personal injury attorney. 

In our previous blog, Your Insurance Adjuster Is Not On Your Side: Why You Need To Be Wary, we covered why you should consult with a personal injury attorney prior to working with your insurance. 

Do You Need A Personal Injury Attorney?

Whether you’ve been injured in an auto accident while using a rideshare app or have otherwise sustained injury at the fault of someone else, the personal injury attorneys here at LeBaron & Jensen are here for you. We provide free case consultations and do not charge a fee until we win your case. There’s no need to worry about navigating your case on your own with our dedicated lawyers on your team. We do everything in our power to ensure that you receive the justice and compensation you deserve.

Contact us today to learn more about our personal injury services and how we can help you achieve fair compensation.

If you’ve been injured in an AirBnB, you may be confused as to who is liable. Is it the host? Is it AirBnB itself? Both?

Here, we’ll go into what AirBnB is, common injuries that people can sustain in an AirBnB, who is liable if you’ve been injured in an AirBnB, and what you should do if you’ve been injured in an AirBnB. Let’s get into it. 

What Is AirBnB?

AirBnB is an online service that provides travelers with an alternative to a hotel, motel, or hostel. Travelers can instead rent out someone’s home, room, or other such location. This allows people with multiple properties or who don’t mind hosting a way to make money, and it allows travelers to have a more unique, homey experience. 

AirBnB itself does not directly own any of the locations listed on their marketplace, but rather functions as a middleman between hosts and travelers. AirBnB does collect a fee from hosts, but it is the hosts who set the prices, organize the booking process, and provide hospitality to their guests. 

Common Injuries People Can Sustain In An AirBnB

There are many different injuries that people can sustain in an AirBnB. Premise liability claims are the most common. AirBnB hosts must make reasonable efforts to keep the rental property safe. If they do not do this, they may be held liable for injuries sustained at their rental.

Common injuries people can sustain in an AirBnB are as follows:

• Slip and fall accidents
• Stair accidents
• Failure to take safety precautions
• Injury from unmaintained property, such as broken stairs or unmaintained driveways
• Swimming pool accidents
• Back injuries
• Head injuries
• Bedbug accidents
• Dog bites
• Shoulder injuries
• Collapse of parts of property (ceiling, decks, stairs, etc)
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
• And more

There are many factors that can contribute to being injured at an AirBnB, and the host may not always be at fault. The host may make every reasonable effort to keep the property safe, but if guests are rowdy or not exercising reasonable safety precautions, they may still be injured. It is important to ensure that you are taking reasonable measures to keep yourself safe while staying at an AirBnB, the same as it is important for hosts to do what they can to maintain a safe property.

Who Is Liable If You Are Injured In An AirBnB?

If you have been injured in an AirBnB, you may be left in the dark as to what exactly your legal rights are. Given that AirBnB doesn’t directly own the location, can they even be held liable? What about the host? What about other guests? 

A personal injury attorney can help you determine liability in your specific case. You may be able to hold AirBnB liable, or you may not. You may be able to hold the host liable, depending on whether or not they made reasonable efforts to maintain a safe property. Generally speaking, suits tend to be filed against the AirBnB host, rather than AirBnB itself. 

No two personal injury cases are the same, so it’s important to have an experienced professional on your side to ensure that you receive top-quality legal representation so that you can focus on healing from your injury. 

What Should You Do If You Have Been Injured In An AirBnB?

Given that personal injury cases can be complicated, especially if you have been injured in an AirBnB, the most important thing to do is consult with a personal injury attorney. They will let you know whether or not you have a solid case and what your options are. If you do have a solid case on your hands, they can represent you to help you achieve the best possible outcome. 

It is inadvisable to try to represent yourself in your own personal injury case, as the law is a very complicated thing and there are many loopholes and confusing wordage and other such tactics that people may attempt to utilize to prevent you from receiving the compensation you deserve.

Do You Have A Personal Injury Case On Your Hands?

Injured in an AirBnB? Do you want to know whether or not you have a strong personal injury case on your hands? LeBaron & Jensen is here to help. We provide free case evaluations and do not charge you anything until we win your case. Contact us today to schedule your free case consultation or for any questions you may have about our services.

If you’ve been victim to an accident, you may be able to file a personal injury claim. However, not everyone wins their personal injury cases. Some people can end up losing their case, resulting in even more pain and suffering than they were already experiencing. If you’re thinking about pursuing a personal injury claim, it’s important to know the reasons why you can lose personal injury cases to ensure that you are as prepared as possible.

#1. Minimizing Issues

People tend to fall on two sides of the spectrum – either dramatizing issues or minimizing them. When taking legal action, both tendencies can get you in trouble and cause you to lose personal injury claims. If you’re trying to brush something off and say it’s okay and leave out how much the accident impacted your life, financially, through loss of enjoyment in life, in medical procedures, and more, this can result in you losing your case. 

It’s very important to be honest about the situation and not minimize (or dramatize) what happened to you and how it’s affecting you.

#2. Not Seeking Legal Representation Soon Enough

If you don’t seek legal representation or advice soon enough after the accident, you could end up losing a personal injury case. You know how “anything you say can and will be held against you”? It’s true. Many people forget about this when they are involved in an accident and can make missteps that can cost them their case, such as apologizing when they didn’t do anything – but the apology can be taken as admission of at least partial fault. More on this below.

There’s also the statute of limitations. You only have so much time after an accident occurs in order to pursue legal action. If you wait until that time passes, you won’t be able to pursue your claim.

#3. Contributory Negligence

It’s possible to both be a victim to an accident and to have your own negligence or assumption of risk having contributed to the accident in some way. Multiple parties can be at fault for an accident, including a victim. If you shared fault in the accident, the amount of damages you may receive can go down and you may end up losing your personal injury claim. 

If you think you shared fault in the accident, it’s important that you tell this to your lawyer. Your lawyer needs you to be completely honest with them in order to represent you the best that they can. The other party will likely bring your part in the accident up in their defense and both you and your lawyer need to be prepared for that in order to give you the best shot possible at recovering damages.

#4. No Experts

In personal injury claims, there’s often a need for expert witnesses to provide testimony in order to prove negligence. If there are no experts who can speak up for you, this can cost you your case.

#5. Lack Of Proof

Even if the other party was entirely to blame for the accident, the court needs proof beyond reasonable doubt in order for you to win a personal injury case. If you don’t have proof, you can lose your case. You need as much evidence as possible and the more documentation there is, the better. This includes pictures of the scene of the accident, police reports, witnesses, medical documentation, and more. 

#6. Misstatements

If you’re asked a question in court or by an authority, it can be tempting to answer even if you don’t know the answer. Many people make the mistake of speculating. Don’t do this. If you’re asked a question about something and you don’t know the answer, just say that you don’t know. Speculation can end up weakening your case and even lead to you losing your personal injury claim.

#7. Hiding Past Issues

This is another point where it’s essential that you’re completely honest with your personal injury attorney. The other party will likely bring up whatever they can in order to weaken your case. Your attorney needs to know about anything that can weaken your case, such as if you had a previous injury, if you were fired from jobs, and other past issues that can paint you in an unflattering light or cause confusion about your case. By telling your attorney, they’ll be able to prepare responses for if these things should come up in court, rather than being caught off guard.

#8. Social Media

It can be so tempting to post about an accident on social media – but if you have any intention of pursuing a personal injury claim, you should not do this. If you posted something like, “got in an accident, but don’t worry – i’m ok!”, this can be used against you. Remember – anything you say can and will be held against you, even if what you said was online.

Do You Want To Pursue A Personal Injury Claim?

If you want to pursue a personal injury claim, contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible for a consultation. They will be able to tell you whether or not you have a solid case and if so, provide you with fair representation so that you can receive the compensation you deserve. 

LeBaron & Jensen is here to help. Contact us to schedule a free case consultation today.