Los Angeles Residents Sue the “Entire E-Scooter Industry”
Los Angeles is a city of cars. No image of the L.A. is more iconic than one that depicts the white and red car lights along a highway, running through the city like a glowing river. Despite the artistic iconography that Los Angeles traffic provides, it is also its most reviled characteristic.
Enter: the scooter-sharing system. The basic concept behind a scooter-sharing system focuses around providing short-term rentals for electric scooters to allow people to travel within a large city without using their cars.
Startup companies Bird and LimeBike provide scooter and bike-sharing services to densely populated metropolitan areas, such as Los Angeles. These companies utilize mobile phone apps with which users can locate a nearby scooter and activate it to ride. After the user reaches their destination, the scooter is deactivated until another user finds it to enable.
Scooter-sharing companies are motivated by providing large cities with environmentally-conscious alternatives to conventional gas-powered cars that emit carbon dioxide while running.
The Class Action Lawsuit
Despite the well-intentioned efforts of companies like Bird and LimeBike, Los Angeles residents consider the service to be a “public nuisance.” In October, several Los Angeles residents filed a class-action complaint against Bird, LimeBike, and other companies in their industry, alleging 15 causes of action, including strict products liability, gross negligence, and aiding and abetting assault.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allegedly sustained injuries resulting from a variety of accidents involving the defendants’ scooters. Some of the plaintiffs were allegedly injured as a result of tripping over, being struck by, or using the defendant’s scooters. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant’s scooters had manufacturing defects that rendered the product unreasonably dangerous. They also claim that the defendants were negligent by introducing a dangerous product to the public which ultimately resulted in injuries to the consumer public.
In addition to seeking damages for their injuries, the plaintiffs also asked the court to enjoin the defendants from conducting business in the city, effectively banning scooter-sharing services in Los Angeles.
A press release from Bird points out that the lawsuit is “against the entire e-scooter industry” and that “[there] is no evidence that riding an e-scooter presents a greater level of danger to riders than riding a bike. Cars remain that greatest threat to commuters, killing over 40,000 people in the U.S. yearly.”
Get Quality Legal Advice from a Santa Clarita Bicycle Accident Attorney
At the Law Offices of Robert J. Kaiser, we have over 20 years of experience in personal injury litigation, including bicycle accident cases. We are dedicated to providing you with compassionate legal advocacy to help protect your right to receive compensatory damages for your injuries.
Call (661) 441-3446 or contact us online today, to schedule a free case evaluation with our experienced truck accident attorney.