Lyft Drivers With Head Injuries

Chicago Lawyers for Rideshare Operators Hurt While Working

If you are a Lyft driver who sustained a head injury while providing rides, you can consult a knowledgeable Chicago workers’ compensation attorney. Head injuries can range in severity, but sometimes injuries that do not seem serious at the time of an accident turn out to be catastrophic. It is crucial to seek medical care. Head injuries can be disabling, rendering you unable to work and affecting your life in other important ways. At Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca, we can potentially represent you in a workers’ compensation claim or other action to seek the compensation you need.

Lyft Drivers with Head Injuries

As a Lyft driver you are at risk for suffering a head injury in an accident while providing rideshares. There are many different types of head injuries, including concussions, hemorrhages, and contusions. Symptoms of each of these conditions can vary. Concussions can result in slurred speech, confusion, amnesia, confusion, lightheadedness, concentration difficulties, tinnitus, fatigue, and personality changes. Contusions can arise as a result of direct force to the head and can cause difficulty balancing, cognitive changes, and difficulties forming new memories.

A particularly serious head injury is a diffuse axonal injury, which arises due to severe shaking. For example, if your car stops abruptly when it hits another car, and your brain isn’t moving as fast as your skull, you may suffer a diffuse axonal injury. Symptoms include fatigue, vomiting, nausea, headache, and loss of consciousness. Sometimes head injuries are penetrating or open injuries; the result may be significant blood loss, seizure, loss of movement, paralysis, loss of bladder function, coma, breathing trouble, or death. Another serious head injury is the coup-contrecoup injury in which there is a violent jerking within the brain after a rollover or very violent car crash. This type of injury may manifest as brain swelling, brain bleeding, skull fractures, confusion, memory problems, mood problems, and loss of consciousness.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Often a Lyft driver with a head injury cannot work for a period of time. It’s important not to assume you’ve been legitimately classified as an independent contractor by Lyft. Only employees are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits, and you may be misclassified. It’s wise to retain an experienced attorney who knows how to present these claims to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. Often workers are misclassified as independent contractors by businesses specifically so that the employer can avoid paying benefits.

Under the ABC test, which Illinois has adopted, an employer that is trying to show a worker is an independent contractor will need to show that the worker serves without the company’s control, his driving isn’t the central business of Lyft, and that the worker is independent, providing services to other companies besides Lyft. The outcome of your case should be determined through an assessment of these factors. Generally, ridesharing companies have substantial control over their drivers. Driving is the company’s central business. Many Lyft drivers do not serve other companies besides Lyft.

Workers’ compensation benefits to which you may be entitled if it’s decided that you are an employee include medical benefits, vocational rehabilitation, and disability benefits. Head injuries can be expensive to treat and may also be disabling. While workers’ compensation benefits are not always substantial, they can be crucial to a worker’s survival after suffering a serious head injury and becoming disabled. Our firm also handles other kinds of claims, such as those related to SSDI. We can also look closely at the facts of your situation to determine whether it might be appropriate to bring a personal injury lawsuit. Bringing a personal injury lawsuit would require you to prove fault, whereas workers’ compensation benefits do not require proof of fault.

Consult a Dedicated Workers’ Compensation Attorney in Chicago

If you are a Lyft driver with a head injury in Chicago, you a seasoned work injury lawyer can help you understand your legal options. At Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca, we represent injured workers in Champaign, Quincy, Rockford, and Aurora, as well as Kane, Winnebago, Sangamon, Cook and Adams Counties. You can contact us at either 312-724-5846 or via our online form.