It depends. Bird Scooter requires users to sign a user agreement that may limit your right to file a lawsuit. These agreements must be signed before you are able to rent a scooter. Because the scooters are rented through an app on your phone, many people will simply click through without fully reading or understanding the agreement.
Generally, these user agreements require you to:
- Waive your right to either bring or join a class action lawsuit (where a number of injured people jointly file a claim against a company);
- Agree to binding arbitration instead of a lawsuit, which waives your right to a jury trial;
- Follow all traffic laws;
- Perform a safety inspection before riding; and/or
- Agree that you are competent to drive an e-scooter.
Bird does allow users to opt-out of some provisions of this user agreement. To do so, you must send written notice that you are opting out within 30 days of your first e-scooter ride.
While these user agreements can be difficult to overcome, an experienced Southern California personal injury attorney may still be able to file a claim. A lawsuit may be based on the theory that Bird Scooter acted with gross negligence, which cannot be waived by user agreement. Alternatively, you may be able to file a claim based on a product liability theory.
If you did not sign a user agreement and were hurt in an e-scooter accident, you may be able to sue Bird Scooters. For example, if you were walking down the sidewalk and were hit by a person driving a Bird scooter, you might be able to file a lawsuit against the company. Because you did not sign the user agreement, you are not bound by its limitations.
