The busy roads of Kansas City, Missouri, are full of vehicles of all kinds. Some of those, naturally, are commercial vehicles. Correspondingly, there are a significant number of commercial vehicle accidents, including ones that involve drivers for services like Uber. That leaves many people wondering what their legal options are in those cases.

The initial impulse of someone whose person, vehicle or property was hit by an Uber driver, or who was in an Uber car that crashes, might want to sue both the driver and the company. However, drivers for ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft are not employees of those companies. They are independent contractors, and their status as such affects how the company pays them and lets the company deny liability for accidents that the drivers cause.

Ride-sharing companies view this as a benefit, since they don’t want to be legally, and thus financially, liable for accidents their drivers cause, it can be very frustrating for the person who was the victim in the accident, but you do have options that will be facilitated by taking key steps.

Like in any accident, those steps involve calling 911 and then documenting the applicable information. If you have an electronic device that can take pictures, take as many as you can to show injuries to yourself and to all vehicles and property involved. Taking pictures of the immediate part of the road that accident happened on can help too. Next, get the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of all witnesses so that you can contact them as they may be needed.

You’ll also want to get the full name of the Uber driver, and take screen shots of your receipt and other proof of the ride that you have on your phone. You’ll also want to see a doctor if you have injuries and keep copies of their reports and the bills that they give you. Doing that will be a good start for your case, and your attorney can advise you of the other steps that you should take.

Source: Money, “My Uber Got Into a Wreck. Can I Sue?,” Alicia Adamczyk, accessed Oct. 13, 2017