Buffalo, New York Rideshare Sexual Assault Mass Tort Lawyers

Jed Dietrich, Esq., Is a Recognized Super Lawyer Committed to Protecting the Rights of Sexual Assault Survivors Across Buffalo. If You or a Loved One Has Been Abused by an Uber or Other Rideshare Driver, The Dietrich Law Firm P.C. Could Help You Explore Your Best Options for Effective Legal Relief.

Rideshare services have been plying Buffalo streets for nearly a decade.

In marketing materials, apps like Uber and Lyft focus on affordability and convenience: an easy way to get home after a big night out, an alternative to asking a friend or family member to give you a ride back from the airport.

For most riders, these services work exactly as intended. However, despite their advantages, rideshare services remain a source of very real danger. Each year, hundreds of passengers across the country file formal complaints over sexual harassment, abuse, and assault. Regulators have accused companies like Uber of failing to do their due diligence in hiring, sometimes accepting career criminals with felony records and violent pasts.

The consequences of any omission or oversight in the onboarding process could prove catastrophic. Even after physical wounds begin to heal, many survivors face an uphill battle against conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. These mental scars can make it difficult, if not outright impossible, to return to the life you knew before.

You should not have to pay the price for a multibillion-dollar company’s failure to abide by the rules of common sense. The Dietrich Law Firm P.C. has spent decades helping survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault assert their rights to a fair recovery. A recognized U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firm, we know what it takes to build a compelling, evidence-based case for compensation, and we have the results to prove it.

Call Jed Dietrich, Esq., today at 716-839-3939 to speak to a rideshare sexual assault lawyer and schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation as soon as possible.

Any personal injury lawsuit against a rideshare company can very quickly become complex.

Part of the reason for this complexity relates to liability. Almost every rideshare company currently operating in the United States hires drivers as contractors rather than salaried employees. This helps save money on payroll, but it also makes it difficult for passengers to argue that the corporation, and not just the individual contractor, should be held liable for misconduct. Instead, if and when a driver causes a problem, whether by crashing into another car or committing sexual assault, management will often direct survivors to helplines and insurance forms rather than sitting down to discuss real solutions.

Uber and Lyft have long leveraged the distinction between standard employees and contracted drivers to their advantage, but the legal system has started to catch on. In California, for instance, more than 2,500 individual plaintiffs have joined forces against the rideshare industry in a mass tort.

A mass tort is similar to a personal injury lawsuit. However, instead of one plaintiff litigating a single claim, mass torts involve a series of similar allegations filed by multiple parties against the same defendant. In the context of a sexual assault claim, mass torts typically involve nearly identical allegations of systemic and systematic misconduct. Participating in a mass tort lets survivors and their legal counsel pool their resources and share information obtained through discovery. But unlike a class-action lawsuit, plaintiffs in mass tort claims still retain full control over their cases. This means that you decide how, when, and under what terms your lawsuit is resolved, without having to share a settlement or court-ordered award with other survivors.

Many of the sexual assault lawsuits targeting Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare services center on claims that these companies systematically failed to:

1. Screen drivers;
2. Conduct thorough background checks; and
3. Investigate passenger complaints of unsafe or abusive driver behavior.

Uber, in particular, has also been accused of concealing known safety risks; it also allegedly failed to prevent repeat offenders from continuing to use its platform. Notably, a growing body of evidence suggests that Uber was aware of these shortcomings yet repeatedly failed to take any meaningful corrective action. Several years ago, for instance, Uber announced that it had developed a “machine-learning”-based algorithm that could identify risky and aggressive drivers. At the same time, Uber’s own databases appear to show that contractors who were rated as higher-risk were still kept active, even after receiving multiple passenger complaints.

Lawyers use the term damages to describe compensation for the different types of loss, hardship, and suffering caused by sexual assault. Your damages are unique to your case, but they could include financial relief for any one or more of the following:

1. Your existing hospital bills;
2. The cost of physical rehabilitation;
3. Mental health counseling;
4. Paid co-pays and deductibles;
5. The costs of anti-depressants and other prescription medication;
6. Lost income from work, including any paid time off you were forced to take;
7. Physical pain and suffering;
8. Emotional pain and suffering, including emotional anguish;
9. Loss of enjoyment; and
10. Physical disfigurement, such as scars sustained in an attack.

New York law does not cap damages in most sexual assault claims, meaning that you could receive as much money as you need to reclaim your financial independence.

Settlement provisions can also include more than compensation. Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may be able to push for policy and software changes that protect others from predatory drivers.

Uber and Lyft have spent years and massive amounts of money insisting that they cannot be held liable for crimes committed by their own contractors. This defense is now, for one of the first times, actively being attacked by survivors across the country. Nevertheless, many rideshare companies have exhibited an extraordinary reluctance to accept responsibility for their negligent practices. If you take on a multibillion-dollar industry, you cannot expect an easy fight.

Do not take risks with your rights: if you think you could have a case, call Jed Dietrich, Esq., today at 716-839-3939 to speak to a rideshare sexual assault lawyer and schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation as soon as possible.

Call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. immediately at 716-839-3939 so that our aggressive, tenacious, and hardworking personal injury lawyers can fight to obtain the best result for your personal injury claim in Buffalo, New York. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there is never a fee until we WIN for you!