The Uber terms mean the couple cannot sue after a “life-changing” accident.

 

 

A couple left with life-threatening injuries after their Uber crashed have been told they could not sue the company because of the terms they agreed to while using the app.

Georgia and John McGinty, of New Jersey, USA, are bound by a stipulation that they cannot take the case before a jury in a court of law.

State judges ruled that he clicked a “confirm” button on the app on more than one occasion when asked whether he agreed to Uber’s terms of use.

The McGintys claim they didn’t realize they were losing their right to sue the company.

They told the BBC that the last time the terms were agreed was when their daughter, then 12, agreed to them before ordering a pizza on Uber Eats.

“How could I ever remotely think that my ability to protect my constitutional rights in a trial would be waived if I ordered food?” said Mrs. McGinty.

Uber told BBC News: “Our Terms of Use are clear that these types of complaints should be resolved through arbitration. Importantly, the court concluded that the plaintiff herself, and not her daughter, agreed to Uber’s Terms of Use on multiple occasions.”

Arbitration means that the dispute is resolved through a third party rather than in court, in this case an Uber-appointed lawyer.

Legal experts say that tends to result in smaller financial settlements.

The case has parallels to Disney’s attempt to avoid being sued over a death at Disney World — in its case over the terms of a Disney+ subscription — before the company changed its mind.

● Pain every day

In March 2022, Georgia and John McGinty were traveling in an Uber in New Jersey when it crashed and they suffered serious injuries.

Ms McGinty’s injuries included spinal fractures and traumatic injuries to the abdominal wall.

“I was in the intensive care unit for a week,” she told the BBC.

“I had a terrible post-operative infection and almost died during this time, I couldn’t care for my son who was suffering from unrelated injuries,” she said.

John fractured his sternum and suffered injuries to his hand.

“I broke my wrist, I broke my hand and I have a steel rod with about nine pins in it. I don’t have full functionality in my left hand,” he said.

“I suffer every day.”

He added that they “have accumulated a tremendous amount of medical debt” and still need additional medical care in the future, including a possible third operation for Georgia.

The couple attempted to sue Uber over the incident, citing the Seventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees people the right to a jury trial.

But the tech company argued that the pair could not take the case to a jury because of a clause in Uber’s terms of use in the United States.

The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed.

“We believe that the arbitration provision in the agreement at issue, which Georgia or her minor daughter, while using her cell phone, agreed to, is valid and enforceable,” the ruling states.

The ruling found that the girl had clicked the button to say she was 18 even though she wasn’t.

Referring to her daughter’s use of Uber Eats, Ms McGinty says she doesn’t know how it can be right for her to be deemed to have “authorised my daughter to waive our rights to go to trial if we were injured in an accident road. “

“I don’t know how anyone makes this leap,” he said.

● How does arbitration work?

Arbitration clauses are “very common,” especially when dealing with large companies, said Ted Spaulding, a personal injury lawyer based in the state of Georgia.

An arbitrator is “very often a lawyer who does this for a living,” he said, and who can “act as a judge and jury.”

They decide the outcome after weighing the arguments of both sides, and their compensation is often split between both parties.

In the United States, the enforceability of arbitration clauses varies from state to state.

In his case, Disney used the arbitration clause in its terms to argue that a man whose wife died at Disney World couldn’t sue them in court.

Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney after his wife, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, died following an allergic reaction at a restaurant, operated by a third party, at Disney World Florida in 2023.

Disney said Piccolo had waived his right to a jury trial when he signed up for a free trial of Disney+ in 2019.

Disney later withdrew its arbitration demand and decided to proceed with a jury trial following media coverage of the lawsuit.

“We believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who has suffered such a painful loss,” Disney executive Josh D’Amaro told the BBC in a statement in August.

Spaulding says, “The law understandably says, ‘Look, you have a duty to know what you’re signing up for,'” referring to the terms and conditions that people often agree to when they use a product or service.

However, it states that “the scope should be within the transaction you are agreeing to.”

Georgia and John McGinty say the Uber case has been “absolutely devastating” for their family.

Georgia says their daughter, now 14, “has suffered a lot of trauma as a result.”

He had a separate physical health issue he was going through at the time, and his parents found it difficult to help him as they went through their own wounds.

“Years of her life with her parents… were taken away from her,” he says.

“Luckily she’s a fighter, as are her parents,” John says.

“We are inadvertently teaching her about adversity, strength, family, prayer and resilience.”

Uber told BBC News: “The court concluded that on multiple occasions, Plaintiff herself agreed to Uber’s Terms of Use, including the arbitration agreement.”

The company added: “We are dedicated to road safety.”

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