Dallas Personal Injury Attorney Explains Uber Accidents

Dallas Personal Injury Attorney Explains Uber Accidents

Rideshare options have become popular, but what happens if you find yourself involved in a Lyft or Uber accident? Herbert & Eberstein offers some advice.

Rideshare platforms, like Uber and Lyft, have become incredibly popular in recent years. Uber, which was founded in 2009, now makes 15 million trips every day in over 600 cities worldwide.  With so many people taking advantage of the benefits of rideshare platforms, it’s important to understand what happens if you’re unfortunately involved in a Lyft or Uber accident. If you are injured in a Lyft or Uber accident, you may be entitled to damages and should discuss your case with an experienced personal injury lawyer like attorney Zach Herbert at Herbert & Eberstein.

Accidents and Rideshare Liability

When considering the big picture, the popularity of rideshare platforms is only about a decade or so old, which means that there are still some grey areas considering legislation and insurance regulations for rideshare contractors. This naturally opens the discussion about how to handle accidents and rideshare liability.

Most rideshare companies require their drivers to obtain and provide proof of a special rideshare insurance policy. Uber and Lyft provide a certain degree of coverage, but the amount and type of coverage are contingent upon specific details. A rideshare driver who hasn’t acquired an additional insurance policy may not be fully covered in the event of an accident.

This brings up the question of liability in regard to personal injury for passengers who are involved in an Uber or Lyft accident. This is where things can start to get tricky.

How to Respond in an Uber or Lyft Accident

When you use a rideshare program, you’re putting your trust completely in the driver. These services do their best to ensure that their drivers are safe, but this doesn’t eliminate the risks for passengers. Even when a rideshare driver takes every precaution for safety, there’s still a risk presented by other drivers on the road. While these services are generally safe, it’s important to be prepared and to know how to respond in an Uber or Lyft accident.

Anytime that you’re involved in a car accident, the first priority should always be to seek emergency assistance – no matter how minor the accident may seem. Police need to be notified so that an accident report can be filed, but more important than that is that emergency medical responders arrive to assess the health of everyone involved.

It’s important to get a medical examination following an accident, even if you don’t feel that you’ve sustained any injuries. It often happens that injuries can take a day or two to manifest physical symptoms, and turning down a medical examination can work against you in a personal injury case.

If you are physically able to do so, you should gather as much information about the accident that you can at the scene. This process might include taking a few snapshots of the scene with your phone, getting the contact and insurance information of the driver and asking where you can obtain an official copy of the accident report.

Additionally, while the driver has a responsibility to contact the service that they work for and report the accident, you should also make contact with the service as soon as you are able to. Doing so provides them with your own account of the accident and to have their representative answer your questions.

The Final Step Is to Contact a Dallas Personal Injury Attorney

While you should make contact with the rideshare company, it’s important to speak to a Dallas Personal Injury Attorney to discuss how to handle your Lyft or Uber accident. You want to use caution in answering any questions relating to your injuries or medical care with the rideshare provider and you should never accept or deny a claim without the assistance of an experienced attorney. If you are entitled to damages in a rideshare accident, a personal injury attorney can help ensure the very best outcome for your case. Call the attorneys at Herbert & Eberstein in Dallas today to discuss your case.

 

Media Contact:

Attorney Zach Herbert

Phone: 214-414-3808

http://zachherbert.attorney

Sources

  1. http://www.businessofapps.com/data/uber-statistics/

Why Employees Need to Be Aware of Workplace Heat Stress Injuries

Why Employees Need to Be Aware of Workplace Heat Stress Injuries

Each year, thousands of workers are affected by workplace heat stress injuries. Learn what heat stress is, how to protect yourself, and what to do if you’re affected.

Workplace injuries are an all too common occurrence, and while most employers take measures to reduce the chances of accidents occurring, there are certain factors of a work environment that are not completely within their control – like the weather, for instance. Workers whose job requires them to endure the elements and long periods of exposure to the hot, Texas sun are at a greater risk of a workplace heat stress injury, as are those that work in factories or other facilities where environmental temperature regulation becomes an issue.

Workplace heat stress is a serious issue, one that can lead to significant health problems and in some cases can even be fatal. Unfortunately, the effects of heat stress can creep up without warning, and it’s not uncommon for someone to not realize that a risk is present until it’s too late.

Many workers are unsure if heat stress is considered a workplace injury in Texas and will incur a mountain of medical bills and the financial strain of lost wages when they could be receiving at least some compensation for damages. Here’s what you need to know about workplace heat stress and what to do if you’re affected.

Heat Stress in the Workplace

Workers can suffer countless types of workplace injuries, many of them avoidable. When it comes to heat stress in the workplace, the most effective, proactive approach involves a combination of employers controlling the environment when possible, helping their employees acclimate to spikes in temperatures and instilling specific protocols that help prevent heat stress from occurring.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, exposure to high environmental temperatures resulted in 37 work-related deaths in 2015, as well as more than 2,800 heat-related occupational injuries and illnesses during the same year. Texas was among the states with the highest number of non-fatality, workplace heat stress injuries.

Signs of Heat Stress

Heat stress is a term used to describe a range of injuries and illnesses that occur as a result of prolonged exposure to heat, which makes it more difficult for the body to regulate its own temperature. Most people are familiar with heat exhaustion and heat stroke as two types of heat stress injuries. Because the initial phases of heat-related injury can produce very subtle symptoms, it’s important that anyone who works outdoors in the heat or in a facility where the temperature exceeds a comfortable level, be aware of the different types and signs of heat stress.

Heat exhaustion occurs when the body overheats and responds to the loss of water and salt that occurs due to excessive perspiration – which is also one of the very first signs of heat stress. Heat exhaustion, if left unchecked, can rapidly progress to heat stroke.

Heat stroke occurs when the body becomes so overheated that it’s no longer able to maintain temperature stability. This process causes a rapid rise in body temperature that can lead to extremely dangerous symptoms. Heat stroke can result in seizures, unconsciousness, cognitive impairment and in extreme cases, death.

Other signs of heat stress include:

  • Headache
  • Chills or clammy skin
  • Dry, hot skin
  • Extremely elevated body temperature
  • Loss of balance
  • Confusion
  • Hallucinations
  • Slurred speech

Contacting a Personal Injury Attorney for Heat Stress in Texas

Employers have a responsibility to protect their workers from heat stress. This responsibility includes measures such as education and awareness of the signs and effects of heat stress, as well as doing whatever possible to help workers acclimate to the heat or reduce work-related exposure to high temperatures. If you’ve suffered a workplace injury due to high environmental temperatures, don’t hesitate to contact Dallas personal injury attorney Zach Herbert to discuss your case of heat stress in Texas.

Heat stress is not something that should be taken lightly. If you’ve suffered from the effects or feel that you’re at risk, it’s important to take measures to protect your health. An experienced lawyer at Herbert & Eberstein in Richardson, Texas can guide you through the process and provide you with the resources you need to recover financially from a workplace heat stress injury.

 

Media Contact:

Attorney Zach Herbert

(T): 214-414-3808

https://zachherbert.attorney/

Sources

  1. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/work-injuries-in-the-heat-in-2015.htm

Four Excuses Insurance Adjusters Use To Not Pay

Four Excuses Insurance Adjusters Use To Not Pay

“Insurance companies don’t want to pay claims. The business model of an insurance company is simple: take in more money than they pay out.  So they hire people called adjusters that are rewarded for finding reasons not to pay claims. These reasons usually make no sense in the real world. However, the insurance world is so large, and the insurance companies are so big, that they can literally shape the way people think about personal injury lawsuits and claims. Here are some examples of excuses that insurance adjusters use:

1.  Gap in Treatment – Insurance companies constantly measure how long it takes to get to a doctor, or how long between visits to a doctor, and have created a term of their own, called “gap in treatment.”  Adjusters will say “there was a gap in treatment, so we reduced our valuation.” The thought process here is that if you were really hurt, you’d be sitting in a doctor’s office all day every day. Which brings us to our next example:

2.  Overtreatment – Even if a doctor recommends physical therapy for a certain amount of time, adjusters will still consider more than x number of weeks of treatment to be “overtreatment.” No matter how different we all are, no matter how old or young, regardless of our medical history, adjusters typically apply some sort of “one size fits all” approach to medical treatment based on the next example:

3.  Low Property Damage – This is mostly based on what the adjuster sees in a picture. If you have a lot of damage to your car, then they will just ignore it and look for other excuses. If your car held up pretty well despite the wreck, then that’s all the adjuster will talk about. Things like, “well property damage was minimal, we feel you overtreated, so we reduced our offer” are often said when the car only has a dent in the bumper.  

4.  Not Accepting 100% Liability – when all else fails, then the adjuster will find something that you did wrong to be able to reduce the offer. Even if the other guy ran a red light and t-boned you when you had a green light, the adjuster will say, “you had a duty to enter the intersection cautiously, so we only accepted 90%.”  What this means is they will offer 90% of whatever they decided the claim is worth.

Fight them! Fight them at every turn.  Don’t give an inch. Call them out on their hypocrisy!  And if they don’t budge, file suit! Insurance companies ultimately don’t decide cases – juries do. And juries are made up of regular people. People that know we all put off going to the doctor even when we are in pain. People that know we do what our doctor tells us because we want to get better. People that know you can be fine when the car is demolished, and hurt when the car has a few dents. People that know running a red light or rear-ending another person is negligent! The answer is to fight.” 

Call 214-414-3808 today if you need an insurance claim attorney in Dallas to fight for you. Attorney Zach Herbert is a Marine Veteran who loves fighting for his clients. Don’t hesitate to schedule a consultation with Herbert & Eberstein LLC to discuss your case.” Source

 

Media Contact:

Dallas Insurance Claims Lawyer Zachary Herbert

(T): 214-414-3808

https://zachherbert.attorney/

Sources:

  1. https://www.zherbertlaw.com/blog/2018/3/6/four-excuses-adjusters-use-to-not-pay