Lime scooter accident lawsuits are personal injury claims for crashes involving one of Lime’s electric scooters, or E-scooters. Claims generally allege that Lime or a third party acted negligently and that the negligence was responsible for the E-scooter accident.
Because Lime’s E-scooters are provided for ridesharing, though, there are some aspects of these lawsuits that make them unique. One of the most important nuances to lawsuits involving Lime E-scooter accidents is the liability waiver that Lime requires you to sign before using their scooters.
The California personal injury lawyers at the Shouse Law Office can help you file a lawsuit and recover the compensation you deserve. In this article, we discuss:
Lime scooters are ridden throughout California’s major cities.
Lime E-Scooter Dangers
The aggressive way that Lime enters new markets has been known to put innocent members of the public – as well as Lime’s own riders – at serious risk. Cities become suddenly inundated with inexperienced E-scooter riders, and police have no way to enforce traffic laws if their city has no laws that apply to E-scooters.
To add to the confusion, Lime’s instruction videos that tell users how to ride their E-scooters only give general tips. They do not explain local E-scooter riding regulations, and the instructions they provide can sometimes even contradict local laws.1
Some collisions involve scooters being hit by cars, including Ubers or Lyfts.
Types of Accidents
There are 5 different kinds of accidents involving Lime’s E-scooters:
- Pedestrians tripping and falling over a discarded E-scooter,
- Single-vehicle accidents that only hurt the person riding the Lime E-scooter,
- Defective Lime scooters breaking during a ride and causing a crash
- Crashes involving a Lime E-scooter and a pedestrian, and
- Crashes involving a Lime E-scooter and a car.
An especially common accident between cars and E-scooters happens when someone in a parked car opens their door into the path of an approaching E-scooter. Known as “dooring,” this type of accident can leave you with no time to avoid crashing into the door.2
Scooter crashes can result in serious harm, including brain injuries, internal organ damage, nerve damage, and paralysis.
Types of Injuries
Hospitals have noted a sharp increase in emergency room visits after Lime entered their city. A study conducted by the CDC found that nearly half of the 190 E-scooter riders it covered had injuries it defined as “severe”:
- 48% had a fracture, abrasion, or laceration to the head,
- 35% had a broken bone that was not a finger, toe, or nose,
- 19% had multiple fractures, and
- 3% had skull fractures.
One reason for these severe injuries is that many of the victims do not wear helmets, which are not required on any E-scooter rider 18 and older. (People under 18 are prohibited from riding Lime e-scooters at all.)3
Compensation
If you get hurt in an E-scooter accident on a Lime vehicle, you could be entitled to compensatory damages for:
- Pain and suffering,
- Past and future medical bills,
- Property damage,
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity, and
- Loss of consortium for your family.
To strengthen your E-scooter lawsuit, try to compile such evidence as:
- medical records
- photos or videos of your injuries and the scooter after the accident
- eyewitness accounts
- a copy of your Lime rental receipt
Lime’s Liability Waiver
Lime has taken steps to insulate itself from paying for these compensatory damages in injury cases by having riders agree to an aggressive user agreement before being allowed to ride its E-scooters. For example, there are provisions in Lime’s user agreement that:
- Try to make blanket disclaimers of liability,
- Require riders to learn and abide by local regulations, even if they contradict Lime’s own instructions on how to ride an E-scooter,
- Force riders to claim that they are already familiar with riding E-scooters and are able to ride one safely, and
- Disclaim liability for any defects on one of Lime’s E-scooters.4
Among the key components in Lime’s user agreement is the provision that prohibits you from forming class actions and forces you to resolve your dispute with Lime in arbitration rather than in court.15 Overcoming this arbitration agreement so you can have your day in court is not impossible, though.
Legal References:
- See Peter Holley, “A Lime scooter accident left Ashanti Jordan in a vegetative state. Now her mother is suing on her behalf,” The Washington Post (February 11, 2019).
- “Dockless Electric Scooter-Related Injuries Study – Austin, Texas, September-November 2018,” Austin Public Health (April, 2019). Peter Holley, “Electric scooter giant Lime launches global recall of one of its models amid fears that scooters can break apart,” The Washington Post (November 10, 2018). Peter Holley, “Lime scooter riders are being injured by ‘sudden excessive braking,’ company says,” The Washington Post (February 25, 2019). Press Release, “Safety Update – February 2019,” Lime (February 23, 2019). California Vehicle Code 22517 (“No person shall open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of such traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.”)
- See for example, Mary Wisniewski, “Watch Out! Cities With Electric Scooters Have Seen Hundreds of Injuries, from Broken Arms to Brain Trauma,” Chicago Tribune (May 13, 2019). Trivedi TK, Liu C, Antonio ALM, et al., “Injuries Associated With Standing Electric Scooter Use,” Journal of the American Medical Association 2(1):e187381 (January 25, 2019). California AB 2989.
- Lime User Agreement (Effective June 23, 2023).