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California E-Scooter Accident Lawyer (rewrite)
Rideshare Law Office wins support for California victims hurt in accidents involving rideshare e-scooters. Victims hurt after a scooter malfunction or struck by a careless driver should receive everything they require to heal and rebuild their lives. Please contact us to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation for all California injury victims. It’s a no-risk way to find out what your injury should be worth and how to hold a rideshare company responsible.
If your injuries are only very minor after an electric scooter collision, or it’s a property damage-only accident, you may not need the help of a lawyer for your case. It’s when your injuries are serious, like a fractured foot or head Injury, that you should go over your accident with a skilled lawyer.
When medical bills run high, insurance adjusters for rideshare scooter companies like Bird and Lyme seek ways to avoid having to support victims. Car insurance companies for careless drivers will also try to wiggle out of liability. They’ll try to get you to accept fault in an accident, or accept far less than you need to fully recover.
A California rideshare accident lawyer fully investigates your accident and collects the evidence necessary to keep a scooter company or a reckless driver from wiggling out of responsibility. Witness testimony and accident reconstruction data will be used to force a rideshare business to provide the maximum in compensation available.
E-scooters have become a common sight along California boulevards. They are an exciting way to travel, but when riders or other motorists don’t know the traffic laws that apply, accidents can happen.
Electric scooters or E-Scooters are scooters powered in part by a motor. California residents can own an e-scooter. Or, if they are old enough, they can rent an e-scooter from a micromobility rideshare service like Lime (through Uber) or Lyft Scooters.
Most of the rules are laid out in California Vehicle Code 21235. Riders must have a driver’s license or a learner’s permit to be on a motorized scooter. People must be at least 18 years old to use a rideshare scooter. Riders under 18 years old must wear a helmet.
In California, a motorized scooter must not exceed 15 miles per hour. They are generally only allowed on streets with a speed limit of 25 mph or less. Riders can share a traffic lane with cars, but they are asked to use bike lanes when available. E-scooters are not allowed on sidewalks.
Riders should take notice that local cities may have their own rules about scooters. It’s important for those hopping on an e-scooter to look up the rules in their area.
The rules of the road for scooter riders can change from city to city. Insurance adjusters can use the confusion to try to blame scooter crash victims for their accidents. It’s critical to have a California e-scooter accident lawyer on your team, investigating the accident and the driver involved, and demanding full compensation for your injury recovery, both physical and financial.
These alternative sources of transportation are a growing source of serious personal injuries and deaths, especially when riders use them as toys. E-scooters are nearly silent, and they present thin profiles in traffic. Motorists who caused scooter accidents often remark that they either didn’t see the scooter at all, or they didn’t see it until it was too late. Although state law requires riders to wear helmets, the overwhelming majority of them don’t wear one. In the event of an accident, they’re exposed and physically vulnerable.
Here are some examples of a few common causes of e-scooter accidents:
Regardless of the fact that e-scooters in California are limited by law to speeds not to exceed 15 mph, some of them are capable of speeds of nearly twice that. A recent study published by the American Journal of Otolaryngology revealed the fact that over the last 10 years, serious injuries caused by e-scooter accidents and injuries tripled with nearly 1,000 cases of head and facial trauma leading the list. Those head injuries included a clinically significant number of traumatic brain injuries like bruising or bleeding of the brain. Other serious head injuries included skull and nose fractures.
Here are some other common injuries suffered in e-scooter crashes:
The insurer of the person who you believe caused your accident will be looking for any number of reasons to try and push some or all of the fault for your accident over onto you. Don’t put it in a better position to do that by agreeing to give its adjuster a written or recorded statement about your accident and injuries. California law doesn’t require you to give any type of a statement, so don’t give that insurer an opportunity to use your own words against you in order to attack your credibility. Even if the opposing insurance adjuster threatens to close out your claim for want of a statement, politely refuse to give one and call us instead for a free consultation and case evaluation with our California e-scooter lawyer. Anything that you say to us is privileged and confidential. We can have your claim opened again in short order.
After a frightening crash or collision victims will be seeking the best care available. Once their injuries have been treated, victims and their family members may begin to worry about who will be paying for the medical care and any care needed in the months to come.
Injured victims could sue motorists who cause accidents, but others could be found responsible for crashes too:
Careless Drivers: A driver who ignores traffic laws and ends up hitting you or your e-scooter Motorists are required to show a “duty of care” to anyone who uses the lanes. They must especially be cautious around cyclists and scooter riders who will have very little protection in an impact from a heavy car, truck, or SUV. When they ignore this duty and speed, fail to yield the right of way to the rider, or fail to monitor mirrors and blind spots for riders, they can be held liable for accidents. Victims can demand support from the at-fault driver’s car insurance providers.
E-Scooter Rideshare: E-scooter rideshare company could also be found liable after an accident. A malfunction with a key part to a scooter that sends a rider to the ground or into traffic would be a company like Bird or Lime’s responsibility. A tire issue or a brake failure might send riders into a collision with a vehicle or with the road surface. Riders likely signed a waiver of liability when they rent an e-scooter on an app, but that waiver doesn’t protect the company when their negligence leads to an accident. E-scooter companies must carry liability insurance that injured victims can draw from.
Manufacturers: Owners of e-scooters could also hold the scooter manufacturer liable if a part break-down or malfunction led to a serious crash.
Large rideshare companies and product manufacturers will be able to afford corporate lawyers who will work to get you to accept as low a settlement offer as possible. Your Rideshare Law Office attorney helps you identify “lowball” offers and keeps you from signing away your right to compensation in the future. Your lawyer assists you in rejecting these unfair offers and demands more for your family.
It’s difficult to calculate an accurate settlement estimate without first hearing from you about what happened. Your lawyer would need to investigate your accident and the driver or rideshare company involved.
Your total on current medical bills to date will definitely factor into the settlement check you receive, but that’s just the baseline of what you should be asking for.
Your lawyer also considers what you’ll need in the years ahead to deal with lingering symptoms and injury flare-ups. Then there are some hardships you’ll suffer that aren’t economic.
Here are a few of the things your Rideshare Law Office representative will be demanding in a settlement check:
The law of comparative negligence in California can significantly affect any settlement or award that you might receive after being injured in an accident. Expect the insurer of the person who caused your accident to argue that you were goofing off or being otherwise careless and negligent while riding an e-scooter. But even if you are found partially to blame for an accident, a careless driver might also be found at fault and could still have to provide injury support.
California is what’s known as a pure comparative negligence state. It means that a scooter rider and the driver can share blame for an accident. A rider might have been traveling on a street where scooters aren’t allowed. The driver might also be found partially at fault for going too fast to avoid a collision.
Both parties may be assigned a percentage of blame. The injured rider should still seek compensation, but it would might be reduced by the percentage of blame the rider had to accept.
Or course, your Rideshare Law Office representative would be fighting to have all blame assigned to the driver to make sure you received what you needed to pay for your recovery.
The general rule in California is that you have two years from the date of an accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. We encourage injury victims to invoke and protect their rights as soon as possible rather than sleep on them. Don’t file any claim notices or lawsuits on your own, and don’t give a statement of any kind without our California e-scooter accident lawyer being present on your behalf. After being injured in an e-scooter accident anywhere in California, contact our offices for that free consultation and case review.
You can tell us about what happened and how it happened. In turn, we can give you a complete legal assessment on the viability of any claim or lawsuit that might be brought. We take these cases on a contingency fee basis. What that means is that upon being retained to represent you, no legal fees are even owed unless we obtain a settlement or award on your behalf. Our goal is to obtain the maximum compensation for you.
If you or a loved one sustained a serious injury in a crash involving an E-scooter, contact us today for a free, confidential consultation and case evaluation. After you tell us what happened, we will help you consider all of your legal options.
There’s no obligation for this free case review, but if you feel we can help you earn more for your recovery, you won’t need any money to hire Rideshare Law Office. We work on a contingency basis and don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the award Lyft must pay to you.
Martin Gasparian, the founder of Rideshare Law Office, has worked for large corporations and now uses that experience to help everyday people. He makes sure those hurt in accidents get what they need to rebuild their lives. Mr. Gasparian doesn’t back down from large rideshare companies and fights until clients get everything required to get back on their feet again.
