Jessica Sura Speaks to Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and Quoted in Virginia Lawyers Weekly regarding Ride Sharing Companies

Never get into a car with a stranger!  It’s one of the cardinal rules we learn when we’re young, but now there’s an app for that.  Blankingship & Keith associate Jessica Sura spoke about strategies for pursuing claims against the companies that offer those apps at the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (VTLA) convention last month. 

She advised attorneys to plead facts showing that the ride sharing company controls its drivers so much that they should be treated as employees rather than independent contractors.  She also recommended that attorneys review the new Virginia Code sections devoted to these “Transportation Network Companies,” Va. Code §§ 46.2-2099.45, et seq., and to pay particular attention to the sections related to insurance coverage.  Va. Code §§ 46.2-2099.51 and -2099.52. 

Ms. Sura says lawyers need to choose words carefully when drafting pleadings involving Uber. The term you use “can have real implications for whether Uber is on the hook,” she told members of the VTLA.

Some of Ms. Sura’s remarks to the VTLA were quoted in an April 7 article in Virginia Lawyers Weekly.  Subscribers to Virginia Lawyers Weekly can click here to read the article.