Lyft Accident Lawyers in Summerville

The Office of Regulatory Staff issues the permit and keeps watch afterward. Section 58-23-1620(C) tells that office to balance innovative, safe and cost-effective transportation against safety protections for passengers and the public. Its staff may inspect driver qualification files and rideshare vehicles.

Under Section 58-23-1670(D), the company must give the office factual information about drivers, riders and trips on request, so it can investigate complaints. South Carolina law enforcement officers may enforce the Act's requirements, too. A regulatory finding does not decide an injury claim, but it can point to records worth requesting.

The Act covers a personal vehicle that the driver owns, leases or has permission to use. A leased sedan or a spouse's SUV can qualify. Taxis, charter buses, limousines and other for-hire vehicles fall outside it. A rideshare vehicle may not have a rated seating capacity of more than eight, counting the driver.

The definition of a prearranged ride also excludes shared-expense carpools. It leaves out non-emergency medical rides arranged for Medicaid or Medicare members under a contract with the State or a managed care organization. Someone hurt on one of those trips may face a different set of insurance rules.

Approval is not a one-time event under the Act. Section 58-23-1650(C) makes the company check each driver's qualifications at least once a year. Subsection (D) requires it to keep the initial and yearly verification records for three years.

A conviction that lands between two yearly checks may go unnoticed until the next one, so the dates in that file matter. Section 58-23-1670(E) limits when the company may release a driver's personal information. For that reason, Frost Law Group seeks the file through formal legal process.

Subsection (F) of Section 58-23-1650 names the people a rideshare company may not let drive. Some bars depend on a criminal record. One depends on the driver's condition during the shift. A driver who fails any single item may not give rides, even after clearing every other check, and Frost Law Group compares each bar with the driver's actual history.

Convictions Within the Past Ten Years

Every disqualifying conviction carries a ten-year look-back. The sex offender bar turns on registration instead, with no time limit. Anyone registered or required to register may not drive for the company. The remaining convictions fall into two groups, and a driver with a conviction from either group inside the window should not have been on the app.

Impaired Driving and Unlawful Alcohol Concentration

The first group covers driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Driving with an unlawful alcohol concentration, the .08 offense in Section 56-5-2933, gets its own mention. A conviction for either one inside the window should have kept the driver off the network. Frost Law Group lines up the conviction date against each yearly verification in the company's file.

Fraud, Theft, Felony Vehicle Use and Violent Crime

The second group reaches fraud, theft and using a motor vehicle to commit a felony. It also covers felonies involving property damage and the crimes Section 16-1-60 defines as violent. A theft record says little about driving skill. It still tests whether the company obeyed the statute when it approved the driver.

Impairment During the Shift Itself

Subsection (F)(4) turns to the driver's condition in the moment. Anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol may not give rides. Yet the same subsection says nothing in the section requires drug testing. Evidence of impairment therefore comes from the officer's observations, any breath or blood test and the people who saw the driver.

Section 15-32-530 removes the punitive damages cap entirely in one situation that fits here. That happens if alcohol left the at-fault driver's judgment substantially impaired, or if drugs did, apart from prescriptions taken as directed. Punitive damages exist to punish, not to reimburse. A jury still needs clear and convincing proof that the driver acted willfully, wantonly or recklessly.

The lower tier begins the moment a driver goes online and waits for a match. Subsection (B) then calls for at least $50,000 for each person injured or killed and $100,000 for each incident. The property damage minimum doubles the personal-policy figure, to $50,000 instead of $25,000.

Accepting a request lifts the floor to $1 million under subsection (C). That amount covers death, injury and property damage together, as one limit shared by everyone the crash harms. It starts at acceptance, not at login or pickup, and lasts until the last requesting rider steps out.

The driver, the company or both may supply each tier. Section 58-23-1625(A) lets a driver's personal insurer exclude every coverage in its policy during app time. Subsection (D) of Section 58-23-1630 answers that exclusion.

A lapsed personal policy, or one without the required coverage, shifts the claim to the company's insurance. That insurance must respond starting with the first dollar and must defend the claim. Subsection (E) bars that insurer from making you wait for a personal insurer's denial. The Act also lets an eligible surplus lines insurer write the policy, so the carrier on a letter may be one you have never heard of.

Both tiers require uninsured motorist coverage, but only at the level Section 38-77-150 of the South Carolina Code sets for every auto policy. The Act sets no $1 million uninsured motorist minimum. It requires no underinsured motorist coverage on rideshare trips, and Section 58-23-1625(A) lets a driver's personal insurer exclude that coverage during app time. Those limits matter when an uninsured or fleeing driver slams into your Lyft.

Frost Law Group also handles hit and run claims, where Section 38-77-170 sets its own proof rules. Your own household policy may also respond, depending on its terms.

If you can do it safely, ask the driver for the rideshare insurance information. Then ask whether the app showed a ride in progress. Write down both answers and the time you heard them.

Section 56-10-225 lets a driver show proof of insurance on a phone, so a photo of that screen works too. A driver's answer is not the last word, since the company's log can confirm or contradict it. Frost Law Group tests the answer against that log before relying on it.

Section 56-5-1260 spells out whom a driver must alert after an injury crash. Inside a municipality, that means the local police department. Elsewhere, the notice goes to the sheriff of that county or to the nearest Highway Patrol office.

Summerville makes that line harder to see. The town reaches into Dorchester, Berkeley and Charleston counties, so a crash just outside its limits could fall to any of three sheriffs.

A coverage investigation is the insurers' process for deciding which policy applies to a crash. During one, the company must work with every insurer that might owe rideshare coverage under Section 58-23-1625(D). They must share relevant information with the people directly involved. Two categories of that information matter most to an injured rider, and both belong on the early request list for Lyft accident lawyers in Summerville.

Log-On and Log-Off Times on Both Sides of the Crash

The exchange covers the exact moments the driver went online or offline across a 24-hour span centered on the crash. A log-off just before impact may push the claim back to the personal policy. The same window may show how long the driver had been online before the crash. None of it is public, and the statute confines the exchange to the coverage investigation.

A Clear Description of Each Policy's Limits and Exclusions

Subsection (D) also makes the company and the insurers describe to one another each rideshare policy's coverage, exclusions and limits. That exchange runs between them, not straight to you. Section 38-77-250 offers a separate route for personal auto policies, through a sworn request your lawyer sends with the incident report. Within 30 days, the insurer must answer under oath with its limits or send the declarations page. Frost Law Group can ask the insurers what the coverage investigation showed and use Section 38-77-250 for personal policies.

When a trip ends, Section 58-23-1660(A)(3) calls for an electronic receipt. It lists where the ride began and ended, how long and how far it ran, the total fare and the driver's first name. The company must also offer customer support on its app, its website or both and answer rider complaints promptly.

Under Section 58-23-1670(A)(5), it keeps each complaint, its date and its resolution for three years. A crash report you send through customer support is the kind of inquiry the company must record, so keep it short and factual. Frost Law Group requests those entries along with the trip log.

Picture a Lyft turning left from Bacons Bridge Road onto Dorchester Road as an oncoming car speeds toward the intersection. Section 56-5-2320 makes a left-turning driver yield to oncoming traffic close enough to be an immediate hazard. Breaking that rule does not put all the fault on the turning driver, because comparative fault applies to both. In 2024, officers reported 41 crashes at the junction of those two roads, according to the Fact Book. A rider hurt there may hold claims against both drivers at once.

Section 56-5-6520 requires the driver and every occupant to wear a fastened safety belt on South Carolina's public roads. That includes the rear seat of a Lyft. The driver must also see that each occupant 17 or younger buckles up or rides in a child restraint, unless that teen holds a license or permit. A violation brings a fine of no more than $25. Section 56-5-6540(A) says it is not a criminal offense, and it stays off the driving record and out of reports to the rider's insurer.

What Section 56-5-6540(C) Keeps Out of an Injury Case

Subsection (C) settles the question in one sentence. Negligence per se means treating the breach of a safety law as carelessness in itself. Contributory negligence refers to blame that falls on the injured person.

Under the statute, failing to buckle is neither one, and the violation "is not admissible as evidence in a civil action." So the defense may not put your unbuckled belt in front of a jury as evidence in your injury case. Frost Law Group cites the statute whenever an adjuster brings up the belt.

A Buckle That Would Not Latch and the Inspection Record

Safety belts appear on the 19-item list in Section 58-23-1640(E), along with door locks, headlights and windshield wipers. A mechanic licensed in South Carolina must inspect the car within 30 days of its first rideshare trip. Another inspection follows every year. The company may not let a car that fails carry riders, and it keeps the inspection paperwork for three years.

If a rear buckle would not latch, that paperwork may show whether anyone tested it and on what date. The belt law also excuses a rider when other occupants are already using every belt, under Section 56-5-6530(7).