Uber Eats Insurance Policy In California

Uber Technologies Inc launched its food delivery subsidiary named Uber Eats way back in 2014. Since then, the US legal system has changed a lot, making some regulations happen in a way that makes sense. Earlier, the in-house staff handled almost every action of transporting food. Take a pizza delivery for instance. Pizza restaurant chains used to make deliveries through their own staff. Nowadays, however, several third-party entities have entered the food delivery scene, and this has invited the involvement of independent contractors that further muddled things.

Nevertheless, the enactment of the California Assembly Bill 5 has brought about some changes as regards to regulations. Our firm understands not just the legal changes that occurred recently in California but also what effects these will possibly have on clients at a personal level. Contact us at any time for a legal consultation, and our injury attorneys will be glad to assist you in either insurance policy or legislative matters concerning the ride-sharing business.

Earlier, hospitality businesses used to recruit drivers for food delivery on the basis of tipped wage. When working under umbrella companies, this provided many vehicle operators with numerous benefits, which include health insurance, vacation time, unemployment benefits, and sick time.

When social trends turned toward outsourcing food delivery to third-party entities, businesses like DoorDash and Uber Eats recruited independent contractors to serve as their vehicle operators. These drivers are regarded as third-parties to food delivery businesses, instead of their employees, so several benefits that apply to the latter professionals are not given to them.

In September last year, the upper house of the California State Legislature signed Assembly Bill 5 to make it part of the legislation. Under the statute, every independent contractor in California is regarded as an employee. As a consequence of this move, these professionals now qualify for usual employee benefits, plus delivery business insurance policies protect them from possible losses. So, in the case of being involved in a collision with an Uber Eats driver, the organization would possibly be found responsible for the concerned damages.

Uber owns a subsidiary known as Portier LLC, which handles every delivery service for the organization. The insurance coverage available for Uber Eats delivery drivers is the same as the one that applies to UberX vehicle operators. In March last year, Uber Technologies Inc elucidated the company’s policies through a statement published on their site. Here are some of the key points from the statement.

• The company has a commercial automobile insurance policy having liability coverage of $1 million for each incident. The company would protect every delivery partner from liability to other parties in the case the accident happens from the time they accept the latter’s delivery request to when it is fulfilled.
• When delivery partners have collision insurance and comprehensive vehicle insurance coverage, the company-maintained insurance would come into force in the case of a crash. The insurance they maintain would then provide coverage as far as the actual cash value (ACV) of the concerned, damaged vehicle, whoever is to blame for it. There is a catch here: the insured would have to pay $1,000 as deductible for the Uber coverage to kick in.

Available Damages

The one who is injured due to another’s negligent act perhaps has the right to be compensated for their losses. Shared hereunder are general details that elucidate what these damages are.

Economic Damages

Monetary damages are to compensate for a plaintiff’s losses. It is expressible as a dollar figure, hence the name monetary damages. To calculate these, first, there is a need for finding out the losses that the party has suffered or is expected to suffer from their injuries. Examples of monetary damages include the following.

• Loss of Earning Capacity
• Lost Wages
• Medical Bills

Non-Monetary Damages

These essentially refer to the monetary compensation for the party’s losses viewed as subjective. These will be granted to help make amends for the losses of them that cannot be quantified. Some of the examples are as follows.

• Loss of Enjoyment of Life
• Pain and Suffering
• Emotional Distress

Exemplary Damages

A court in California awards these forms of compensation only in rare situations at their discretion. Meant as a form of punishment, these would be awarded only if an accused party’s behavior is found to be very harmful. As per the statistics available at the time of writing this, punitive damages were part of just 5% of court verdicts on the whole.

In the event of sustaining injuries from a collision with any given food delivery business vehicle, just remember that you have the option to contact our law group. Our compassionate and adept personal injury lawyers are capable of helping clients like you to get back the compensation. Call us today at (310) 598-8485 for a FREE case evaluation or email us at info@ridesharesaccidents.com and we will get back to you within that hour.