E-scooter crashes could carry legal risks
Q: If you ride an e-scooter and injure a pedestrian, are you liable for medical costs?
A: Typically, your homeowner’s or renter’s personal liability coverage would cover the accident.
Q: When might your homeowner’s or renter’s personal liability coverage not cover you?
A: If you were under the influence when the accident occurred, you might be found more than ordinarily negligent, perhaps criminally negligent. However, your insurer still might cover you, and you could subrogate your rights against the bike rental company.
Q: When might the bike rental company be found negligent?
A: If there’s any question about how well the bike was built or maintained, or subsequently damaged.
Q: What if you, as the bike operator, are injured, too. Do the facts change?
A: You can sue the bike rental company unless you were driving under the influence. Your health insurance company might pay all of your claims/medical bills and then subrogate any of your rights of recovery against the bike rental company.
Q: What’s the real risk to your wallet? What do you need to do when renting/ using a scooter on a regular basis, say for instance if you live or work downtown?
A: You need to ride a scooter with the same degree of etiquette/safety/reasonableness with which you drive a car, though you can’t yet add scooter use to your auto liability policy.