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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

#161

Post by enjo »

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.

In most (maybe all?) small claims courts you are forbidden to have a lawyer present. Companies generally send an administrative assistant or something similar. You are welcome to retain an attorney before and after the hearing, but they can not be present during.

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

#162

Post by shuntress »

sivex wrote: post #143

Not a single comment on here about using insurance. I know that a backpack with a laptop can be stolen out of someone else's car and cut-rate renters insurance will cover it. I don't really think Uber was the correct person to foot this bill, I think this is the same as someone grabbing your purse from you when walking down the street. You either have decent insurance or you're SOL

>I think this is the same as someone grabbing your purse from you when walking down the street.

It is not the same as someone grabbing your purse when you are walking down the street.

Unless the person who grabbed your purse was hired by you through an agency to hold your bags and walk you down the street before they ran off with your purse.

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

#163

Post by rescbr »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #142
nowarninglabel wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I only use Uber as a last resort now. I really don't get this. You are livid with the company and yet you will still continue to pay them. Why would they do anything different then? Why are there situations where you absolutely have to use Uber as a last resort? What did you do in those situations previously before Uber came about?

There are places where Uber is the only realistic choice apart from taxi companies who will try to scam you. Mexico City is an example.

It seems there's Cabify in Mexico City. I'm using them in Sao Paulo and their service is way better than Uber's.

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

#164

Post by smsm42 »

jszymborski wrote: post #53

Any anecdotal stories about losing items in traditional Taxis? The first clerk didn't think that ever worked out, wondering about that claim...

You would probably get zilch. People think filing a suit against Uber is bad because they big and have lawyers and stuff. But at least there's a large target. Try suing a private cabman, when you discover owner of the license and the driver are completely different people, and nobody wants to talk to you, and their terms of service, which you have never seen but implicitly accepted, say they are not responsible for anything. And unlike Uber they are not concerned at all about the bad press, and if you sue them them might obstruct and delay you every way possible (or the driver might just disappear and the owner disclaim any responsibility because they just own a medallion and have no idea about what the driver does when), and even if you win they could just refuse to pay up and you'd have to figure out how to get money out of them, while living on the other end of the country.

At least Uber is a big target that can be found, forced to disclose the data that you know they always have, and if you win, you have reasonable assurance you get the money.

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

#166

Post by petraeus »

notheguyouthink wrote: post #88
gravypod wrote: post #76

"I just didn’t buy that a company could just get away with that business model. Hire anyone with a car, facilitate everything, and have no responsibility for what happens in the cars." If I got food sick from something I ordered off GrubHub could I sue them?

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…

Yes, you would be smart to sue subway for millions.

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

#167

Post by samstave »

skinnymuch wrote: post #141
jandrese wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a tab in your Amazon account that lists every single thing you've bought from them on that account. I have purchases going back to 1998 in there. Uber is maybe in a little different position because they're in danger of outing a cheating spouse if they give up that info. Maybe a better option would be to let you access all of your trip info, but have an option to hide certain trips? Sort of like private brow…

Ah good points about Uber being in a different situation. Yeah there should be some solution.

But in that situation, if the data is mine, I should be able to access it. If they are hiding the data from me so as to not affect my potential relationship with another person, then that is even more ridiculous of a reason to hide the data.

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

#168

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

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.

Courts do have their own small-claims advice service (for free too, I think) which serves the same purpose.

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

#169

Post by zer00eyz »

hsod wrote: post #132
zer00eyz wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FTA: What Uber told the police. "The Uber department responded that they had no record of a trip from the vehicle with that license plate on December 5th, 2016, just after 11 PM, and the driver had not driven with them for 2 years." "Sufficiently cooperative" (per you) and outright lying are two very different things. FTA: "Why would Uber not have the information on the driver for the police? Uber asserted that they…

I'm saying the article is muddled and unclear, not Uber. > "The Uber department responded that they had no record of a trip from the vehicle with that license plate on December 5th, 2016, just after 11 PM, and the driver had not driven with them for 2 years." How do we know this is a lie? It could be true due to driver fraud (driving a different car than the one they have registered with Uber). Or it could have been…

> It's still unclear to me how exactly Uber obstructed the investigation but maybe my reading comprehension is lacking.

Im terrible with dates so stuff like this slips by me ALL the time!

- Monday, December 5th, 2016, the crime

- Uber tells police that they "don't have a record of a trip..."

- March 3rd, 2017. first court date

- April 9th, uber amends statement to the police. We do have records but won't share due to privacy...

You know, telling the driver that they are a matter of a police investigation and that they would be sharing data with them (aka cooperating) would have given uber a leg to stand on. Uber saying "We gave all the info to the police, it is out of our hands, we don't control our contractors" goes a long way in court. Lying, changing your story, tends not to.

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

#170

Post by ivraatiems »

enjo wrote: post #161
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.

In most (maybe all?) small claims courts you are forbidden to have a lawyer present. Companies generally send an administrative assistant or something similar. You are welcome to retain an attorney before and after the hearing, but they can not be present during.

In Massachusetts, you may have an attorney in small claims court. [1] I think most states allow it, but it isn't super common to actually do.

[1] http://www.mass.gov/ago/consumer-resources/consumer-assistan...

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