Judge Rules Lyft App is Subject to Product Liability Law

A successful plaintiff can use product liability law to receive compensation for injuries caused by a defective product. This could be a medication that results in a severe side effect that the person wasn’t warned about or a defective tool that breaks when used as intended causes an injury. A federal judge in Kansas recently ruled that the rideshare app may be defective because it could’ve resulted in a woman’s rape.

What is Product Liability Law?

Usually, legal action by an injured party involves negligence claims. A plaintiff would argue that the defendant owed them reasonable care because of the relationship between the parties. The defendant violated that duty by doing something poorly or not doing anything, causing the person harm. The plaintiff also must show that the defendant should compensate them under Kentucky law.

If you’re injured by a product, in addition to a negligence claim, if you have the evidence, you can also argue that the defendant should compensate you for your harm due to the state’s product liability laws.

You would need to show that the defendant (who could be anyone making, distributing, or selling the product) put a product that’s unsafe for its intended purpose into the marketplace even when it’s used as instructed. It could have a design or manufacturing defect, or the instructions or warnings are legally insufficient.

To fall under product liability law, what’s at issue must be a product, like a pipe wrench. You use it, it breaks, and you’re injured. If you hire a plumber to fix a leak, that’s a service. If the leak continues, you slip on a wet floor and are injured, which may be a negligence claim against the plumber.

A key issue the judge in this case decided was that the Lyft app (used to arrange transportation) was not strictly a service providing drivers to users. It had enough elements of a product to be covered by Kansas product liability law.

Lyft Customer Raped After Being Driven Home

Because of the nature of the case, the plaintiff is anonymous. She used the Lyft app for a ride to a liquor store and back home because she was too intoxicated to drive herself safely. The driver and a companion were in the car. They went to the liquor store and returned to the plaintiff’s home, where she passed out. The companion raped her while the driver stole some of her personal belongings.

Lyft would not usually be responsible for the criminal acts of its drivers, but the facts of the case show that the Lyft app if considered a product, could be dangerous if used as intended. According to the court’s decision:

Lyft received in 2022 a driver application from someone identified as “Terri Parham”
The picture on the driver’s license included as part of the application was from someone named Terri Parham, but the driver photo for the application was co-defendant Michalia Williams
The photos didn’t match, but Lyft approved the application anyway
Williams had a prior criminal record at the time and didn’t have a valid driver’s license.
The vehicle, insurance, and contact information used for the application were in the name of another person, co-defendant Joshua Williams, also a convicted felon
Michalia Williams drove the car and the plaintiff matched her with the photo Lyft provided. Joshua Williams was in the car with her
Michalia Williams later pled guilty to felony theft, and Joshua Williams pled guilty to felony aggravated battery

The plaintiff made several claims against Lyft, which asked the court to dismiss them. The company was partially successful, but the product liability case remains.

Is the Lyft App a Service or a Product?

Judge John Broomes stated the Lyft app had elements of a service and a product but was enough of a product to fall within the Kansas product liability statute:

“…the Lyft app is a software or algorithmic product with sufficient similarities to a tangible product to subject it to product liability law. That conclusion reflects the realities of Lyft’s business model as alleged in the complaint: Lyft offers a ride-sharing service, but it provides its own proprietary product – the Lyft application – that its drivers and passengers are required to use in order to provide or receive the service that Lyft is selling…this does not mean that every injury alleged by the Plaintiff in this Count is automatically traceable to Lyft via the app under a theory of product liability. Rather, Plaintiff must show how an alleged flaw in the app software led to a specific injury…A key determination is causation; would the alternative app design have prevented the assault from occurring…there appear to be things that Plaintiff has reasonably pled that could potentially meet this causation requirement, such as screening measures to confirm a driver’s identity …or the failure of the app to identify that the biometric information of the two photos on the Lyft driver application were not the same…”

Judge Broomes pointed to other cases where judges reached similar conclusions.

What Does This Mean for Me?

Many apps can bring you into contact with others. You can get a ride somewhere, have food delivered, hire someone to assemble furniture or fix your plumbing. If the person you thought would help you hurts you, depending on the facts, this line of cases may give you a way to seek compensation for your injuries.

Schedule A Free Consultation — Contact Us Today

You may have a valid compensation claim if you or a loved one is injured or suffers extensive property damage due to a defective product. To discuss your situation with an experienced product liability attorney, schedule a free initial consultation. Call 855-385-9532 or contact us online to reach our office in Louisville.