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My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

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Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#251

Post by gambiting »

thrownblown wrote: post #227
ivraatiems wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's true that in small claims you often don't need one to represent you in the actual proceeding - and many lawyers, especially fairly "big" ones, would have no interest. However, retaining one to advise you on how to navigate the process, how to phrase your arguments, how to communicate with the opposing party, etc., is probably valuable even if they aren't running the case for you directly.

My company had a fairly expensive lawyer on retainer when we had a $3-4k bill go un-paid and was forced to start a small claims proceeding in order to get paid. Since we had never been through something like that we asked him for help, and he did help us quite a bit, because it became quite a hassle. I assume that he assumed it would just be a couple letters drafted and they would cough up, but they really dug in the…

>>he politely informed us that this was a little below his scope as our retained lawyer and to gladly not bother him again with things quite so trivial and time consuming.

Frankly, at $500/hour, I would politely tell him that I will bother him with whatever I need, he's not doing me a favour.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#252

Post by pkolaczk »

azakai wrote: post #228
codedokode wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't explain why the driver didn't return any calls. And in this case Uber could give data about that passenger to the police.

The driver might have realized (too late) what happened, if the driver noticed the second passenger left with a backpack they didn't come in with. Then gotten scared and decided to avoid calls and lie about things.

It shouldn't be possible to avoid police investigation just by avoiding calls. UBER should give all the details to the police and then the police should do their job and call the driver and the next passenger. Where I live (Poland), not responding timely to the police/court calls/mails would get you into big trouble and in the best case would end up in a fee and in the worst case you could be brought to the hearing by force.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#253

Post by PacketPaul »

netsharc wrote: post #190
dmitrygr wrote: post #15

A fun read. Glad the author prevailed. Not surprised at uber's action, sadly. Claiming they do not control the drivers' actions is their norm.

Is it really a fun read? I skimmed through the first few paragraphs and it seemed he mentioned dota, his dad, his old job, how his flight was...

I agree. It was like listening to my six year old tell me what happened. Every story begins when he woke.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#254

Post by dx034 »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #96
Yhippa wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happened to me. The driver decided to drop me off in the bus lane (instead of the normal taxi/car lane) at an airport and encouraged me to get out quickly and drove off just as fast because we were in violation of airport policy. Very shortly after I noticed my phone was gone and was in his car. I was able to contact him since I luckily had a tablet with data and I was using Project Fi but there was absolutely n…

Did you consider asking the police to file a criminal complaint against Uber for theft?

It appears that he forgot his phone in the car?

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#255

Post by koliber »

HenryBemis wrote: post #212
skinnymuch wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy only got $4K. Retaining a lawyer for just that amount wouldn't be worth it, would it? I have no clue how small claims works and how likely it is to have attorney fees be included if you win like you mentioned. The guy had to fly back to Boston again for the second time around. He'd also likely have spent some money in Boston like getting around. None of that was included in the final amount either. I'm not su…

A lawyer could probably get him the: -compensation for valuables in the bag -compensation for software/files/etc -compensation for time wasted -compensation for di-stress caused -compensation for tickets & hotel (if I get this right, the "victim" had to fly in for the court) The Uber may had to cough-up 6-8-10k, the lawyer would get 2-4k for 2 hours worth of work and all would be happy

Unfortunately, there is a limit to the damages that can be claimed in small claims court. It differs from state to state. In Massachusetts, it is $7000 (http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/small-claims-suits-ho...) .

He could go to regular court to claim a larger amount, but that's a more involved and lengthy process.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#257

Post by notheguyouthink »

wolco wrote: post #176
notheguyouthink wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how far this line goes, too. If I go to Subway and a worker stabs me, does Subway owe me millions? I'm really confused how Uber is responsible here.. it just seems, odd, to me. Now, if Uber as a company promoted (in one way or another) reckless speeding for the sake of fast drop-offs, and I get hit by an Uber driver, yes I think Uber is at fault (and the driver) . However, why does it sound like Uber is r…

If you go into subway and an employee stabs you for no good reason you sue subway

Which is weird to me. Why is a company expected to be onmicient about their employees? Do we have to do psych evals on everyone to make sure they might not do something that the company could be liable for? Why isn't law good enough here? If Subway wasn't involved, isn't the law sufficient? Eg, a person committed a crime, Subway wasn't involved.

Do you disagree?

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#258

Post by tripzilch »

ivraatiems wrote: post #139
lazyant wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I called several attorney offices for a small claim court case (max $2k in that particular state iirc) and they laughed at me.

It's true that in small claims you often don't need one to represent you in the actual proceeding - and many lawyers, especially fairly "big" ones, would have no interest. However, retaining one to advise you on how to navigate the process, how to phrase your arguments, how to communicate with the opposing party, etc., is probably valuable even if they aren't running the case for you directly.

> However, retaining one to advise you on how to navigate the process, how to phrase your arguments, how to communicate with the opposing party, etc.

How, exactly does one "retain" a lawyer?

Is that a formal, monthly-fee kind of thing, for the ability to call them up for questions and advice?

Or is it more like an informal, having done business in the past, maybe for a larger lawsuit, getting to be friendly, and knowing a guy who knows a guy, sort of thing?

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#259

Post by dragonwriter »

haberman wrote: post #220
dragonwriter wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The use of "literally" is only necessary in contexts where it is in question whether the meaning is literal or not. The use of literally with its meaning of “not figurative” is only necessary in those contexts where it is unclear without the additional term whether a use is figurative or literal. The use of it with its meaning as an intensifier of a figurative statement is only necessary (or appropriate) when it is…

This analysis doesn't give the speaker any room to challenge the listener's expectations about what is possible. If the listener thinks a thing is impossible (particularly in a way that sounds potentially hyperbolic or humorous), the speaker can no longer use the word "literally" to clarify their meaning. Worse, as usage of the second meaning grows, it encroaches on one's ability to use the first meaning unambiguousl…

> This analysis doesn't give the speaker any room to challenge the listener's expectations about what is possible.

Sure, it does; first, “context” includes everything other than the words used, including the manner of the speakers presentation, and, second, the rest of the English language is still available. One can, for instance, explicitly state, “not figuratively”. It's true that—as is true in general with figurative uses—the more common they become in situations where speaker and listener may nit view context the same way, the more they require verbose circumlocution to disambiguate literal from figurative use. (The use of “literally” in it's literal sense is almost entirely such a circumlocution made necessary by such issues with figurative uses of other words and phrases, for instance.) This affects figurative use of “literally” the same as any other figurative use of language.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#260

Post by ferdterguson »

tripzilch wrote: post #258
ivraatiems wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's true that in small claims you often don't need one to represent you in the actual proceeding - and many lawyers, especially fairly "big" ones, would have no interest. However, retaining one to advise you on how to navigate the process, how to phrase your arguments, how to communicate with the opposing party, etc., is probably valuable even if they aren't running the case for you directly.

> However, retaining one to advise you on how to navigate the process, how to phrase your arguments, how to communicate with the opposing party, etc. How, exactly does one "retain" a lawyer? Is that a formal, monthly-fee kind of thing, for the ability to call them up for questions and advice? Or is it more like an informal, having done business in the past, maybe for a larger lawsuit, getting to be friendly, and know…

Retain means pay monthly.
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