IF YOU WERE INJURED AN ACCIDENT WITH A PIZZA DELIVERY DRIVER, CALL OUR LUBBOCK PIZZA DELIVERY ACCIDENT LAWYERS AT (800) 863-5312
While pizza is a popular delivery option, pizza delivery drivers are often in a hurry to make as many delivers in as little time as possible. As a result, accidents with pizza delivery drivers are practically inevitable. Lubbock pizza delivery accident lawyers have the resources to help you bring your claim against the pizza delivery driver or company that caused your injury.
When an employee gets into an accident while on the job, difficult questions can arise. Who is liable for the accident, the employer or employee? Can I still recover if I partly caused the accident? Zinda Law Group is here to answer your questions if you were in an accident involving a pizza delivery driver.
If you were hurt in an accident with a pizza delivery driver, call a Zinda Law Group car accident attorney at (800) 863-5312 and schedule your free consultation.
Who is liable when an accident includes a delivery driver?
In an car accident with a pizza delivery driver, the person who is liable is usually the person who caused the crash or the employer of the person who caused the crash. Even in crashes that were clearly caused by the human error of the delivery driver, the pizza company employer still must take responsibility for the accident under the right circumstances. It can be tough to determine liability after an accident with a pizza delivery driver, but a Lubbock car accident attorney can help you gather the facts of your case and determine who may be at fault.
John (Jack) Zinda
Founder / CEO
Over 100 years of combined experience representing injured victims across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationWhat if You Partially Caused a Pizza Delivery Driver Accident in Lubbock?
Some states have adopted a comparative negligence regime and some have adopted a regime of contributory negligence. Under comparative negligence, victims can still recover for their injuries even if they were also negligent and partially caused the accident. Under contributory negligence, victims cannot recover for their injuries if they were even 1% responsible for the accident.
Texas is a comparative negligence state. This means that so long as the victim is less than 50% responsible for the accident, the victim can still recover even if he or she partially caused the accident. At trial, the jury decides the percentage of responsibility that each party in the lawsuit must take for the accident and awards damages in proportion to those percentages. If the parties do not go to trial, then they predict the percentage of responsibility that a jury would assign to each party and try to settle for an amount that is proportionally less than the amount for which the parties would settle if the victim were not partially at fault.
For example, if you are 25% responsible for the accident, the pizza delivery driver is 75% responsible, and your total damages are $100,000, then you will receive $75,000. Of course, it is riskier to go to trial than to settle, since the jury decides not only the parties’ percentage of fault but also the appropriate amount of compensation for the victim.
Neil Solomon
Partner
Real results matter. We do not get paid unless we win your case.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationWhen is the Driver Liable?
If you think, the driver is at fault, your car accident attorney may try to also name the driver’s employer in the lawsuit. That’s because the pizza company will likely have the appropriate amount of insurance coverage to help you recover in your claim.
The only situations in which the pizza delivery driver’s employer would be excluded from the suit are those in which the driver was not working for the employer when the driver crashed. If the driver was not on the clock or was otherwise not working at the time of the crash, then the employer does not have to take responsibility for the employee and the victim can only sue the driver. However, if the driver was delivering a pizza or driving back to the pizzeria after a delivery, it would be extremely difficult for the employer to argue that it should not take responsibility for the accident.
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
Standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ready to answer in your time of need.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationWhen is the Pizza Company Liable?
The pizza company can also be found negligent independent of the driver themselves. For example, the employer might negligently hire someone who was clearly not fit for the job, such as someone who is uninsured or has a terrible driving record laden with traffic violations. The employer should have foreseen the danger to other drivers on the road from a delivery driver without the proper qualifications.
The pizzeria may have also lacked enough employees at the time it hired the driver and negligently trained the driver for the job. Perhaps an employee responsible for training the driver did not properly supervise the training. In that case, the employer should have foreseen that poor training could lead to future accidents.
Importantly, the employer might enforce company practices that pressure employees to cut corners when it comes to safety. Perhaps managers encourage employees to make as many deliveries as possible in an hour. The pizzeria may also pay drivers below the minimum wage and expect tips to make up the difference for delivery drivers. This encourages delivery drivers to make as many deliveries as possible, increasing risks of an accident.
CASE RESULTS
Cole Gumm
Attorney
We are here to ensure you won’t have to face this difficult time alone.
Available 24 / 7|Free ConsultationNegligence in an accident with a pizza delivery driver
We have discussed who is liable when an accident includes a delivery driver, but what is the next step? with a lawyer to walk through the elements of your case. For a pizza delivery driver accident in Lubbock, your claim will hinge on negligence, which has the following elements:
- The pizza delivery driver or pizzeria owed the victim a duty of care.
- The pizza delivery driver or pizzeria breached the duty of care
- The victim received an injury for which he or she can be legally compensated.
- The pizza delivery driver or pizzeria caused the victim’s injury.
Note that you cannot wait indefinitely to file your claim. All states set a limit on the amount of time a victim has to bring a personal injury claim against a defendant, and in Texas that time limit is two years from the day of the accident.
What is the Duty of Care?
Certain relationships establish legal duties of care. Pizza delivery drivers and pizza companies owe drivers on the road the duty of care typically expected of all drivers on the road. All drivers are expected to prevent foreseeable harm to each other by following traffic laws and adjusting their speed and brake times for bad weather or road construction. More broadly, the duty of care that the driver owes other motorists is the level of care that a reasonable person would take under similar circumstances.
Pizza delivery drivers do not typically undergo extra driver training,, so they are not held to a higher standard than the typical driver on the road. However, an employer can be negligent if it should have foreseen the harm that its employee would cause. There are industry standards for hiring pizza delivery drivers, and that can help the parties decide the level of care that the pizza company should have taken when hiring the driver who crashed into you. For example, Papa John’s and Domino’s Pizza both require that applicants be over the age of eighteen, be insured, and have a clean driving record.
Other industry standards that the employer may have failed to uphold relate to the pizzeria’s training systems for drivers and their company policies. Pizza delivery drivers and their employers breach the duty of care when they fail to meet the standard of a reasonable person or to meet the widely accepted industry safety procedures. Speak with an attorney to see whether the pizza company in your case breached the appropriate standard of care.
What Does it Mean for an Injury to Be Compensable?
After you show that you meet the first two elements of negligence, you move onto the other two elements that relate to your injury. Your injury must be compensable, which means that there must be a law that allows you to recover for your injury. For example, if you are at a four-way stop and a Domino’s driver crosses the street in front of you without stopping, you cannot recover against that driver unless the cars made contact. Most physical injuries suffice to meet the element of compensable injury.
Next, you have to be able to show that the delivery driver’s actions caused your injury. The question to ask here is, “If it weren’t for the delivery driver doing _________, would the accident have occurred?” If you can answer that question, then you may be ale to prove causation.
What are the main causes of pizza delivery driver accidents in Lubbock?
You might think that pizza delivery accidents are caused by the inexperience of young drivers behind the wheel. While some pizza delivery drivers are young and less experienced, that stereotype has largely dissolved since the average delivery driver is over forty years old. Here are a few other factors most likely to cause accidents with pizza delivery drivers:
Time Pressure from the Pizzeria
Perhaps you remember Domino’s “thirty minutes or less guarantee” through which Domino’s promised that its customers would not have to pay for orders that arrived thirty minutes after customers placed them. This guarantee led to tremendous lawsuits from Domino’s employees’ reckless driving to meet that time limit. Currently, the guarantee is no longer in place because it became too expensive and reputationally difficult for the company to maintain, but customers’ expectations for quick deliveries persists. Drivers might carelessly rush in hopes of a bigger tip.
Unfamiliar Roads
Pizza delivery drivers must navigate unfamiliar roads to find houses and apartments all the time. On several occasions, it may be unclear to a driver where to drop off a pizza. In this instance, the driver might be focused on communicating with the customer instead of focusing on the road. As a result, a driver in these situations could make mistakes that cause accidents.
Driving while Fatigued
If the driver is working for the pizzeria as a second job or is a student in addition to a delivery driver, it is easy to see how exhaustion could get the better of him or her. It is dangerous for anyone to drive while fatigued since it makes it more difficult for the driver to focus, and pizza delivery drivers are especially susceptible to fatigue.
Call our Zinda law group Lubbock Pizza delivery accident lawyers Now
If you or a loved one were injured in a pizza delivery driver accident in Lubbock, you are not alone. Zinda Law Group’s Lubbock pizza delivery accident lawyers are here for you every step of the way to help you recover after this type of car accident. Our experienced pizza delivery accident lawyers will review your case and determine if someone else is liable for your injuries and damages. If someone else is responsible for the accident, you may be able to seek maximum compensation.
If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt or killed in pizza delivery accident in Lubbock, call Zinda Law Group today at (800) 863-5312 to schedule your free consultation with one of our auto accident lawyers.
Meetings with attorneys are available by appointment only.
Our Awards
AWARDED TO JOHN C. (JACK) ZINDA BY THE NATIONAL TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (2016-2020)
AWARDED TO JOHN C. (JACK) ZINDA (2009, 2011-2012, 2014-2021), & NEIL SOLOMON (2020-2021)
AWARDED TO JACK ZINDA (2016-2020)
LIFETIME MEMBERS JOHN C. (JACK) ZINDA
Jason Aldridge
Attorney
We have successfully represented clients in a wide variety of cases across the country.
Available 24 / 7|Free Consultation
