Scooter Accident Lawyer – Bloomington, IL

Scooter Accident Lawyer – Bloomington, IL

Imagine for a moment that you are walking down a busy downtown sidewalk when your foot catches the wheel of a parked e-scooter, sending you tumbling to the ground where you break your wrist. Who is responsible? Now, imagine a different scenario, if you will. Instead of coming across and tripping over an unmanned e-scooter, you are operating it when it suddenly malfunctions and, again, sends you to the ground, injuring your wrist. Who is to blame? In both instances, the likely responsible party is the e-scooter company because their technology operates scooters in motion as well as those at rest. Still, because these products and companies are so new and foreign to many consumers, many accident victims feel that their injuries are their own fault. If you’ve recently been injured in an e-scooter accident, it’s important to speak with an experienced Bloomington, Illinois scooter accident lawyer from Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols before making any assumptions about your legal options. Depending on a few key legal questions, our Bloomington, IL personal injury lawyer team may be able to help you file a successful claim for compensation in the wake of your accident. 

Liability

An e-scooter sharing company is not automatically responsible for injuries that you sustain while riding one of their scooters. Most of these ride-sharing services require you to sign an agreement before using their service, which offers several levels of legal protection for the company. Therefore, the company is typically only liable when a product malfunctions or causes injury. However, fault in scooter accidents generally is determined in a similar way to auto accidents, in that liability is attributed to specific parties. Knowing this, other than when a product malfunctions, the operator will likely bear some responsibility, depending on the incident. WIth that said, exceptions to this general rule exist. By working with a Bloomington, IL scooter accident lawyer, you can better understand who/what may be held legally responsible for the harm you have suffered. 

Damages

If the e-scooter platform is responsible for the accident, then you can typically sue for damages like any other personal injury case. Therefore, you can likely seek compensatory damages to recover any provable financial losses. Also, you might be able to sure for other more abstract damages like pain and suffering, depending on the state. Also, if you were injured by a scooter being operated by someone else, you can likely seek damages from the individual if a scooter malfunction didn’t cause the incident.

Filing

While there are several pending class-action lawsuits against some of these scooter sharing services, you do not have to be a part of them. If you were injured because of a malfunctioning product or because of the reckless placement of one of these scooters, then you can file an individual personal injury claim to recoup some of your losses. However, because these scooter companies are unique and relatively new entities, it is wise to hire an experienced Bloomington, IL scooter accident lawyer to help you through the claims process successfully.