You trusted the app to connect you with a safe driver. When that trust is broken and you suffer an injury, you need clear answers about accountability. The complex issue of liability regarding rideshare background check failure hinges on whether a company knew, or should have known, about a driver's potential danger.
A rideshare corporation's responsibility for a passenger’s harm often links directly back to the thoroughness of its driver screening process. Pursuing a claim requires a detailed examination of a company’s hiring practices and the driver's history.
Key Takeaways for Rideshare Background Check Failure Liability
- Rideshare companies must conduct background checks on all potential drivers.
- A company may face liability if its screening process fails to detect a driver's disqualifying history.
- Negligent hiring claims argue that a company’s carelessness in hiring caused the passenger's injury.
- Documenting your experience and preserving evidence are the first steps in building a case.
- An experienced attorney can investigate the screening process and fight for your full compensation.
Unpacking Rideshare Company Screening Requirements
Rideshare giants build their brands on the promise of safety and convenience. Central to this promise is the process they use to screen potential drivers. While specific requirements can vary slightly between companies, a set of core checks forms the foundation of their vetting process.
Understanding what these checks entail provides a baseline for evaluating potential rideshare liability for background check failure. When a crash occurs, the first question is often whether the company followed its own standards and the law.
These companies generally use third-party services to run background checks that look into two primary areas: a person’s criminal history and their driving record. These automated searches scan various databases for red flags that may disqualify candidates from driving for the platform.
Criminal History Checks
A criminal background check is the first line of defense against dangerous individuals getting behind the wheel. The screening company searches national and local databases for criminal convictions.
Certain types of convictions typically result in an automatic disqualification, although the timeframe for review can differ.
Common disqualifying convictions include:
- Violent Crimes: Felonies such as murder, kidnapping, and assault show a clear threat to public safety.
- Sexual Offenses: Any conviction for a sexual assault or misconduct, particularly those requiring registration as a sex offender, may bar an applicant.
- Theft or Fraud: A history of property crimes can indicate a lack of trustworthiness, posing a risk to passengers and their belongings.
- Drug-Related Offenses: Certain drug convictions, especially those related to trafficking or driving under the influence, often lead to rejection.
- Terrorism-Related Offenses: Any connection to terrorism results in an immediate and permanent ban from the platform.
Motor Vehicle Record Review
Equally important is a thorough review of an applicant's driving history. A motor vehicle record (MVR) check reveals a person's driving habits, including traffic violations and past accidents.
A history of recklessness on the road presents a direct danger to any passenger who steps into that person’s car, so Uber and Lyft typically look for patterns of unsafe driving.
A single minor speeding ticket from years ago may not be an issue. However, a collection of recent violations or a few major infractions can signal a high-risk driver who should not be approved.
Common disqualifiers found on an MVR include:
- DUI or DWI: A conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a major red flag and usually results in automatic disqualification.
- Reckless Driving: This serious violation suggests a disregard for the safety of others on the road.
- Excessive Violations: More than a few minor moving violations, such as speeding or running red lights, within a specific timeframe (often three years) may disqualify a candidate.
- Major Accidents: A history of causing serious car accidents points to a driver's lack of skill or caution.
- License Suspensions: A previous or current license suspension often signals an unacceptable risk.
Ongoing and Continuous Monitoring
Some rideshare platforms have also implemented continuous background checks. This process means the company doesn’t just screen a driver once at the time of hiring.
Instead, the system regularly re-checks driver records for any new criminal offenses or major driving violations that may occur after they have already been approved to drive. The company can deactivate the driver's account if a new disqualifying event appears.
This system aims to close a loophole where a driver could pass an initial check but engage in dangerous behavior later.
Understanding Negligent Hiring in Rideshare Cases
When you suffer harm from a rideshare driver's actions, your claim may extend beyond the individual driver to the corporation itself. The legal concept of negligent hiring provides a framework for holding a company accountable.
A negligent hiring claim argues that the rideshare platform was careless in its hiring and screening process and that this carelessness directly led to your injuries. The focus shifts from the driver’s single act of negligence to the company's systemic failure to protect its customers.
Successfully pursuing a rideshare liability claim based on negligent hiring requires proving a series of specific elements. Your attorney must build a case that shows the company had a duty to keep you safe, breached that duty with a flawed screening process, and caused your damages.
The Elements of a Negligent Hiring Claim
To hold a rideshare company accountable, your legal team must establish several key points to prove the company acted negligently. Each element connects the company's actions, or inactions, to the harm you experienced.
Proving these elements shows why the responsibility extends to the corporation:
- Driver Unfitness: Your lawyer must first show that the driver was unfit for the job. This usually involves uncovering a past criminal record or a history of dangerous driving that the background check should have flagged.
- The Company Knew (or Should Have Known): You must prove that the rideshare company either knew about the driver's unfitness or would have known if it had conducted a reasonable and thorough background check.
- Foreseeable Harm: Your attorney must connect the driver’s unfitness to the harm you suffered. For example, if a driver with a history of assault harms a passenger, it is foreseeable that hiring such a person could lead to that type of injury.
- Hiring as the Cause: Finally, you must demonstrate that the company's decision to hire the unfit driver was a direct cause of your injuries. In other words, the harm wouldn’t have occurred had the company properly screened the applicant and rejected them.
Examples of Background Check Failures
The concept of a screening failure can be abstract, but real-world examples illustrate how gaps in the vetting process lead to passenger harm. These scenarios form the basis of many successful rideshare background check failure liability lawsuits.
Failures can occur in many ways, for example:
- Ignoring a Criminal Record: A company may run a check that reveals a past assault conviction, but hires the driver anyway.
- Using Incomplete Databases: A background check might only search statewide records, missing a serious out-of-state felony conviction.
- Failing To Verify Identity: A driver may use a stolen identity or false documents to apply, and the company fails to catch the deception.
- Overlooking a Poor Driving History: The platform may approve a driver with multiple recent speeding tickets, a DUI, and an at-fault accident on their record.
- Lacking Continuous Monitoring: A driver passes an initial check but is later convicted of a serious crime, and the company fails to discover it because it doesn’t re-screen drivers.
6 Steps To Document and Build Your Case at Home
After an incident involving a rideshare driver, and after you have addressed your immediate medical needs, the actions you take can help protect your rights.
Organizing information and preserving evidence from the comfort of your home provides your attorney with the foundational materials needed to investigate a rideshare background check failure liability claim.
Act now:
- Write Down Everything You Remember: Create a detailed, chronological account of the incident. Include the date, time, pickup location, and destination. Describe the driver’s behavior, what was said, and every detail of the event that caused your injury.
- Preserve Digital Records: Take screenshots of the ride details in the rideshare app. This includes the driver's name, photo, car model, and license plate number. Save any receipts or trip confirmations that you received via email.
- Organize Your Medical Documents: Gather all paperwork related to your medical treatment, including bills from the hospital or doctor's office, visit summaries, and any instructions you received for follow-up care. Keep a simple journal of your symptoms and recovery process.
- Track All Related Expenses: Keep receipts for any costs you have incurred because of the incident. This can include prescription costs, transportation to medical appointments, and any other related out-of-pocket expenses.
- Document Lost Income: If your injuries prevent you from working, collect pay stubs or other documents that show your rate of pay. Make a note of every day you missed work due to your injuries or medical appointments.
- Contact an Attorney: A rideshare accident lawyer can explain your rights, investigate the background check failure, and handle all communications with the company and its insurance providers.
How a Rideshare Accident Lawyer Helps With Background Check Failure Liability
Confronting a massive rideshare corporation by yourself can feel daunting. Uber and Lyft have vast legal resources to defend themselves against claims.
Your lawyer manages the entire legal process so you can focus on your recovery. From conducting a deep investigation into the driver’s past to negotiating with corporate attorneys, your legal advocate works to secure the compensation you need to move forward.
Here’s how an attorney helps:
- Investigation: Your lawyer will launch a comprehensive investigation into the driver's complete history, going far beyond the surface-level check the rideshare company may have performed.
- Evidence Preservation: They’ll immediately send legal notices to the rideshare company to preserve all relevant evidence, including the driver's application, all background check results, internal notes, and any ride data.
- Damages Calculation: An attorney will carefully calculate the full extent of your damages, including current and future medical expenses, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, and pain and suffering.
- Negotiation: They handle all communications and negotiations with the rideshare company's legal team and insurers, fighting for a fair settlement that fully compensates you for your losses.
- Litigation: If the company refuses a fair settlement, your lawyer can file a lawsuit and represent you in court.
FAQ for Rideshare Background Check Failure Liability
What Are the Screening Requirements for Rideshare Drivers?
Rideshare companies must conduct a multi-faceted background check on prospective drivers. This process typically includes a search of criminal databases for violent offenses, sexual offenses, and other serious felonies or misdemeanors.
It also involves reviewing the applicant’s motor vehicle record to identify a history of DUIs, reckless driving, or excessive traffic violations.
What Makes Uber Liable for a Driver's Actions?
A rideshare company like Uber can be held liable for a driver's harmful actions through the legal doctrine of negligent hiring. Companies are liable if they knew or should have known a driver was a risk.
Establishing liability requires showing that the company's inadequate screening process was a direct cause of your injury.
What Should I Do if I Suspect the Rideshare Company Is at Fault for My Injuries?
After seeking medical attention, your first step is to preserve all evidence related to the incident, such as screenshots of the ride from the app and any medical records. The next critical step is to consult with a rideshare injury lawyer.
An attorney can investigate the rideshare’s liability for a background check failure, determine if a negligent hiring claim is viable, and guide you through the process of holding the company accountable.
Can I Sue Uber or Lyft for a Bad Background Check?
Yes, you can file a lawsuit against Uber or Lyft based on a faulty background check. If you were harmed and your attorney can demonstrate that the company's screening process was deficient and failed to identify a driver's dangerous history, you may have a strong case for negligent hiring.
Can I Hold Lyft Responsible for a Driver's Criminal History?
You may be able to hold Lyft responsible if a driver with a disqualifying criminal history causes you harm. A key part of a rideshare’s liability for background check failure is showing that the company's screening should have uncovered that criminal record.
If the criminal history was of a nature that made the resulting harm foreseeable, the company could be found liable for damages.
Focused on Your Future
Your energy is best spent on healing and rebuilding. Taking legal action isn’t about dwelling on the past; it’s a forward-looking step toward securing your future stability and well-being.
A successful claim provides financial resources for medical care and lost income. Holding companies accountable for safety failures drives systemic change, protecting future passengers.
At Gallagher & Kennedy, we help people who have been injured regain control. We have the resources and experience to investigate complex rideshare claims involving background check failure liability.
Let us handle the legal fight while you concentrate on what matters most—your recovery. Call us at (602) 530-8400 to discuss your case and learn how we can help you move forward.