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​Experienced ILLINOIS Workers’ Compensation Lawyers
& CHICAGO Injury Lawyers

Uber Drivers’ Third Party Claims

Chicago Attorneys for Uber Drivers Third-party Lawsuits

As an Uber driver, you are at risk of repetitive stress injuries and acute injuries on a daily basis. When you started working for Uber, you may have signed an agreement that states you are an independent contractor. Employers often ask workers to sign these agreements in order to avoid paying for the costs of having an employee such as paying worker’s compensation insurance premiums. However, Uber does not have the last word on whether you are an employee or an independent contractor. If you were injured in an accident while driving for Uber, you should call the seasoned Chicago workers’ compensation lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca for a consultation. Every situation is different. Our firm has fought for compensation for injured workers and accident victims for more than 60 years. We handle not only workers’ compensation claims, but also third-party accident claims and SSDI claims.

Uber Drivers Third-party Claims

Workers’ compensation benefits are no-fault benefits. In other words, you do not need to prove Uber was at fault for your losses in connection with a work-related injury, so long as Uber cannot prove you were an independent contractor under what’s known as the ABC test. However, workers’ compensation generally doesn’t cover the full spectrum of a worker’s losses after a work-accident, particularly when those losses stem from catastrophic injuries such as amputation, paralysis, complicated fractures, or burns. Accordingly, if you are an Uber driver who was injured on the job, it is crucial to retain a Chicago lawyer with experience in both personal injury and workers’ compensation claims; while these proceedings are distinct from each other, information gathered in one context may affect the other, and there may be subrogation interests to consider.

What do I Need to Prove in a Third-party Lawsuit?

In order to recover damages in a third-party lawsuit, our seasoned Chicago trial lawyers will need to prove fault. Unlike a workers’ compensation claim, in which benefits are no-fault, meaning fault need not be proven, you can only recover damages in a personal injury lawsuit if we can prove a defendant’s fault by a preponderance of the evidence. Most personal injury lawsuits and third-party claims are brought under a theory of negligence. To prove negligence, we will need to prove the defendant owed you a duty of care and breached that duty, thereby causing you injuries and losses. All drivers owe a duty of reasonable care to others with whom they share the road.

Unlike a workers’ compensation claim, the defendant in a personal injury lawsuit can point to ways in which you are to blame for your own injuries. This means, for example, in the context of a car accident, the defendant’s insurer and attorney will look at whether you were speeding, tailgating, drunk driving, or failing to obey traffic signs and signals, and thereby contributed to the accident. Your damages award can be reduced by an amount equal to your proportionate fault. For example, if your damages in a car accident lawsuit were $100,000, but you are found 50% responsible for the accident because you were weaving through traffic trying to get a passenger to his destination, you may only be able to recover $50,000 from the responsible party.

Moreover, questions of subrogation interests arise when you have filed both a workers’ compensation claim and personal injury lawsuit. Under Illinois law, when a worker files a workers’ compensation claim and there is also a third party involved who is at fault, an employer or their insurer has a right of subrogation. This means that they are entitled to pursue your claim against the third party as if it were theirs.

Consult a Seasoned Chicago Workers’ Compensation Firm

If you are an Uber driver with a third party claim, it is crucial to retain a lawyer who understands implications of bringing both personal injury and workers’ compensation claims. Our firm handles personal injury lawsuits, workers’ compensation claims, and SSDI claims in Rockford, Champaign, Quincy, and Aurora, as well as Winnebago, Kane, Sangamon, Adams, and Cook Counties. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.