Are lawsuits allowed against Lyft?

Like most legal questions, it’s not as easy as “yes” or “no”.

Like many large corporations, they try to make sure your best interests and their best interests are considered. This means they include language in your user agreement that prevents you from suing them in most legal courts. However, consumers will always have small claims court or consumer arbitration as legal alternatives.

What is a class action lawsuit? Can I file one against Lyft?

Class action lawsuits by design or intended to bring together a class of people, and all of them have the same complaint against a company. However, if you are a customer of Lyft you typically can’t join an existing class action lawsuit or file one because your user agreement typically has specific wording that prevents it. This wording is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s meant to save time and money that would otherwise go into a lot of litigation.

It also stipulates that you have the freedom to use consumer arbitration. Thanks to that loophole, we at FairShake are helping reinvent the list lawsuit process. Most of the Lyft complaints are quite common and consumers have the same questions about their legal rights when it comes to problems with the company.

Rather than trying to file a Lyft class action suit, which usually is prevented by the wording in your contract, we will file a personalized legal document with lift and help guide you through this process.

As a Lyft customer, what are my options for a lawsuit?

There are a lot of ways that you can make a claim against the company if they have done something wrong or they caused the problem and didn’t fix it. For example, if there was an unnecessary and unwarranted charge you can put a stop on that and file a complaint with your credit card company or your bank. If there was a customer service issue you can try to work with a company and if that fails, you can file a claim with the Better Business Bureau.

But when it comes to your legal options for more serious problems, you have one of two options:

First, you can sue Lyft in small claims court but if you do that you will be asked to attend a court hearing and you will have to pay court fees.
Second, you can use consumer arbitration and do everything from the comfort of your home. This process is actually laid out in your contract and it’s something that you should do instead of going to a judge. But, just like going to a judge, you would make your case before an independent arbitrator who can force the company to fix the problem they caused and give you compensation. We helped make this process simple and convenient.

Recent and Notable Lyft Lawsuits

Sexual Assault Class Action Lawsuit

Multiple Lyft customers alleged sexual assault by the Lyft drivers with so many claims filed in the court that judge is have combines them all into a single class action lawsuit. Allegations of sexual assault cases from Lyft have been increasing with passengers and other employees counted as a victims. Several thousand female customers have filed lawsuits against the company.

From Top Class Actions:

In January, a judge reportedly ruled that lawsuits taking Lyft to task for alleged assaults committed by drivers can be combined into a single case. This ruling was made despite Lyft’s effort to stop the combination of the lawsuits and comes in conjunction with more riders alleging they suffered sexual assault during Lyft rides, according to the New York Times.

The determination that the Lyft sexual assault lawsuits could be combined was reportedly made by Judge Kenneth R. Freeman of the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County. Specifically, he ruled that 15 cases could be combined, once these cases are combined, and a coordinating judge is assigned to them, other Lyft cases can be added.

California Independent Contractor Class Action

In addition to the thousands of sexual assault cases that continue to hit the company, the misclassification of employees as independent contractors in the state of California has also warranted a class action lawsuit.

From Top Class Actions:

For years, Uber and Lyft drivers have been a big part of what is known as the gig economy, a collection of businesses that have sprung up due to the proliferation of phone apps that make it easy to have food and goods delivered. Uber and Lyft drivers transport paying customers from one place to another. Grubhub, DoorDash, and Postmates deliver food to your door from any restaurant you choose. The drivers who work for all of these companies have always been considered independent contractors, but more and more lawmakers and workers themselves are questioning whether independent contractor is not the right classification.

By not considering these drivers employees, Uber, Lyft, Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates and other companies do not have to provide unemployment insurance, minimum wage, meal periods, rest breaks, health insurance, sick days and more. By avoiding the investments they would be required to make in employees, these gig economy businesses have produced millionaire or billionaire executives.

The signing of Assembly Bill 5 changes the standards California will use to classify workers as independent contractors, effective Jan. 1, 2020. The new law stipulates that a worker is an employee if the job performed is part of the company’s core business, if a supervisor instructs how the work is to be performed or if the worker is not employed in a separate trade or business. The new criteria was developed after a California Supreme Court ruling in 2018 laid out these standards.

Autodialer TCPA Lawsuit

The company has been hit with yet another class action lawsuit for its unwarranted phone calls that violate the telephone consumer protection act (TCPA).

From Top Class Actions:

The TCPA autodialer lawsuit alleges that Lyft violated the rules of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by using an autodialer to send unsolicited text messages to consumers.

Lawsuits Against Lyft

Are lawsuits allowed against Lyft?

What is a class action lawsuit? Can I file one against Lyft?

As a Lyft customer, what are my options for a lawsuit?

Recent and Notable Lyft Lawsuits

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