Bakersfield Rideshare Accident Lawyer

Rideshare trips crisscross Bakersfield day and night, from downtown and CSU Bakersfield to the bars, restaurants, and shopping along Chester Avenue, Ming Avenue, Stockdale Highway, and Rosedale Highway. Pickups and drop-offs on these busy arterials, plus trips that merge onto Highway 99, Highway 58, and the 178 Crosstown Freeway, create plenty of opportunity for collisions. When an Uber or Lyft driver is involved, victims often discover that several insurance policies and several companies are pointing fingers at one another. Which coverage applies usually turns on what the driver was doing at the moment of the crash: when a rideshare driver is on an active trip or en route to a passenger, a $1 million liability policy generally applies, while a lesser, more limited coverage applies when the app is on but no ride has been accepted, and the driver's personal policy applies when the app is off. Insurers exploit these phases to deny or minimize claims, and California's pure comparative negligence rule lets them argue shared fault. Because most injury claims must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, nailing down the driver's app status and the right policy early is critical. Rideshare injury lawsuits arising in Bakersfield are filed in the Kern County Superior Court, whose main civil courthouse is on Truxtun Avenue in downtown Bakersfield. From its Glendale base, MMG Law Firm represents Bakersfield and statewide clients, handling much of each case remotely by phone, email, and a secure document portal and traveling to Kern County for court as needed. We work on contingency, so there is no fee unless we win, and free consultations are available in English, Armenian, and Russian.