A Massachusetts man is suing ride-hailing company Uber for $63 million after he was left permanently paralyzed following a car crash he was involved in while using the service.
William Good, 30, decided to take an Uber home in April when the driver crashed into a parked car. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Good alleges negligence on behalf of Uber and says the company is responsible for his injuries and conducting “unsafe business practices,” his lawyer told NBC Boston.
The lawsuit also accuses Uber of failing “to appropriately screen, hire and supervise their driver, resulting in severe and life-changing injuries to Mr. Good, who is now a quadriplegic,” The Associated Press reported.
Good’s lawyer, Victoria Santoro Mair of Sweeney Merrigan Law, wrote in a press release that during his ride Good felt the Uber driver swerve before crashing the car and that he proceeded to ask Good, who was then paralyzed, to get up repeatedly and then moved him, NBC Boston noted.
Mair also reportedly said that the Uber driver had been hired even though he had a “lengthy driving history and prior driver re-training.”
“I struggle daily with the knowledge that this Uber employee was hired as a professional driver — the last thing he should have been hired to do,” Good told WCVB-TV.
A spokesperson for Uber told The Boston Globe that the company could not comment on pending litigation.