Hollywood Taxi Accident Lawyer

Taxicab Accidents Are Different From Ordinary Car Accidents

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Taxi accidents are different from ordinary Florida car accident cases. Florida law has special rules for traditional taxicabs. Taxis have different insurance requirements, and Florida law removes taxicabs from the permanent-injury rules in § 627.737. Florida courts have also treated taxicabs carrying paying passengers as common carriers. This means a taxi driver may owe passengers a higher duty of care than an ordinary driver.

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These rules can affect the insurance available, the damages an injured passenger may recover, and who may be responsible for the accident. Taxi passengers can also be injured without a collision. A passenger may be hurt when a driver brakes hard, makes a sudden turn, moves before the passenger has finished getting in or out, closes a door on the passenger, chooses an unsafe place for a drop-off, or causes the passenger to strike the taxi's interior partition. The first step in a taxi accident case is to identify the type of vehicle involved. A traditional taxicab and an Uber or Lyft may provide similar transportation, but Florida law does not treat them the same.  

 

​These differences can affect the insurance available after an accident, the damages an injured passenger can pursue, the legal standard applied to the taxi driver's conduct, and the parties that may ultimately be responsible. Taxi accidents also produce unusual injury scenarios that may occur without any collision at all, including hard braking, abrupt turns, unsafe boarding or exiting, a taxi moving before a passenger is clear of the vehicle, unsafe drop-offs, door injuries, and passengers striking the interior partition. Understanding a taxi accident therefore begins with identifying exactly what type of transportation was involved. A traditional taxicab is not legally interchangeable with an Uber or Lyft vehicle merely because both transport passengers for money.

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What Makes a Florida Taxi Accident Claim Different?

Several features distinguish traditional Florida taxicab claims from ordinary automobile cases. Florida Statute section 627.733 gives taxicabs special treatment under Florida's no-fault system and expressly provides that section 627.737 does not apply to a motor vehicle used as a taxicab. Florida also imposes special financial-responsibility requirements under section 324.032. When the injured person is a paying passenger, Florida common-carrier law may impose a heightened standard of care concerning passenger safety.  The practical significance is that a lawyer investigating a taxi accident should not simply obtain the crash report and treat the matter as another two-car collision. The investigation may need to address the vehicle's legal status, taxi company, titled owner, driver's relationship with the company, operating or lease agreements, dispatch records, trip history, insurance, driver hours, maintenance records, passenger status, and the circumstances surrounding pickup and discharge.

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Do You Need a Permanent Injury After a Florida Taxi Accident?

One of the most important differences involves Florida's permanent-injury threshold. In many Florida automobile cases, section 627.737 limits recovery of noneconomic damages unless the plaintiff establishes one of the statutory threshold injuries, including a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability.

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Florida Statute section 627.733(1)(b), however, expressly provides that section 627.737 shall not apply to any motor vehicle used as a taxicab. That statutory language can have substantial consequences for an injured taxi passenger or another person pursuing damages arising from the operation of a qualifying taxicab. A substantial injury does not always become a permanent injury. A person can experience months of significant pain, medical treatment, disability, lost activities, and disruption of daily life and eventually make a good recovery. In an ordinary Florida automobile case, the permanency issue can become central to recovering pain and suffering damages. Florida's Legislature expressly treats vehicles used as taxicabs differently for purposes of section 627.737.

Taxicab Accident Knowledge Center

Every taxicab accident presents different legal, medical, and insurance questions. The Florida Taxicab Accident Knowledge Center provides focused information about taxi liability, common-carrier duties, taxicab insurance requirements, PIP, Florida’s permanent-injury rules, driver fatigue, driver pay and employment, passenger injuries, boarding and exiting accidents, unsafe drop-offs, serious injuries, wrongful death, compensation, settlement, and trial

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Do Florida Taxicabs Have PIP Insurance?

Traditional Florida taxicabs do not simply follow the same PIP security requirement applicable to ordinary private automobiles. Section 627.733(1)(b) directs the owner or registrant of a vehicle used as a taxicab to the separate financial-responsibility requirements of section 324.032 rather than the ordinary security requirement in section 627.733(1)(a). That does not necessarily mean an injured taxi passenger has no potential PIP benefits. Depending upon the passenger's own automobile insurance and household circumstances, another applicable policy may provide PIP coverage. The source and priority of potential benefits therefore need to be investigated separately from the taxi's own statutory insurance obligations.

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How Much Liability Insurance Must a Florida Taxi Carry?

Florida imposes substantially greater financial-responsibility requirements on taxicabs than the minimum liability coverage ordinarily associated with a private automobile. Under section 324.032(1)(a), one method by which an owner or lessee operating taxicabs can satisfy the statutory requirement is through a motor vehicle liability policy providing at least $125,000 for bodily injury to one person, $250,000 for bodily injury per occurrence, and $50,000 for property damage.

Those amounts are statutory minimums under that method of compliance, not necessarily the maximum insurance available after a particular accident. A complete investigation should identify the actual policy and determine whether additional insurance applies through the vehicle owner, taxi company, fleet operator, lessee, employer, another negligent motorist, or another potentially responsible party.

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Are Florida Taxicabs Common Carriers?

Florida Supreme Court precedent has recognized a taxicab transporting passengers for hire as a common carrier. In Swilley v. Economy Cab Co. of Jacksonville, the Court discussed the taxi's obligation to exercise the highest degree of care, foresight, prudence, and diligence reasonably demanded by the circumstances affecting the passenger and carrier. The distinction is important because a paying taxi passenger does not necessarily stand in the same legal relationship to the driver as the occupant of an ordinary private automobile. Florida's common-carrier principles focus on the carrier's responsibility for passenger safety while also recognizing that the carrier is not an absolute insurer against every possible injury. The circumstances matter. A taxi carrying an elderly passenger, a person with an obvious mobility limitation, or an obviously intoxicated passenger may confront risks that require precautions different from those appropriate for an able-bodied passenger. What the driver knew or reasonably should have recognized can therefore become an important part of the liability analysis.

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Is a Taxi Company Automatically Responsible Whenever a Passenger Is Injured?

No. The common-carrier standard does not make a taxi company an insurer of passenger safety. A taxi passenger can be injured in an accident caused entirely or substantially by another motorist, and a taxi driver is not necessarily negligent merely because the passenger was hurt. The important question is what the taxi driver did under the circumstances. If another vehicle unexpectedly enters the taxi's lane and causes an unavoidable collision, the other driver may bear responsibility. If the taxi driver was speeding, following too closely, distracted, fatigued, or otherwise failed to react as a reasonably careful common carrier should have reacted, the taxi driver's conduct may also become an issue.

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Can You Have a Taxi Injury Case Without a Collision?

Yes. Some of the most distinctive taxi injury cases do not involve a collision with another vehicle at all. The injury can arise from the way the driver transports, boards, handles, or discharges a paying passenger. A taxi driver who approaches stopped traffic too quickly and then brakes violently can throw a passenger into the partition, front seat, floor, door, or window. A rapid turn or abrupt lane change can produce a similar injury. The fact that the taxi did not strike another vehicle does not necessarily resolve whether its operation was negligent.

These incidents can cause concussions, facial and dental trauma, cervical and lumbar injuries, shoulder injuries, knee injuries, fractures, and other significant injuries. In a no-impact case, dispatch data, vehicle video, GPS information, witness testimony, photographs of the passenger compartment, and the passenger's description of the movement can become particularly important evidence.

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Injuries While Entering or Exiting a Taxicab

Boarding and exiting create risks largely absent from conventional two-vehicle accident cases. A passenger may have one foot inside the taxi and another on the pavement when the driver begins moving, or the taxi may pull away before the passenger has completely exited. A passenger's hand, foot, clothing, cane, walker, bag, or other property can become caught in a door. Florida taxi litigation has even involved a taxi moving during the passenger's exit and running over the passenger's foot. Injuries from these events can include fractures, ligament damage, crush injuries, nerve damage, head injuries, and complex orthopedic injuries.

The timing of the vehicle's movement becomes critical. Evidence may need to establish where the taxi stopped, whether the driver could observe the passenger, when the door opened, when the vehicle began moving, and whether the passenger had safely completed the boarding or exiting process.

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Unsafe Taxi Drop-Off Accidents

Selecting a safe location to discharge a passenger can also become part of a taxi injury case. A passenger may be dropped into an active traffic lane, on the traffic side of a roadway, near a dangerous intersection, on an unstable shoulder, far from the curb, or at a location that creates an unnecessary danger. The issue can become particularly significant when the driver knows that the passenger is elderly, physically impaired, intoxicated, visually impaired, using a mobility device, or otherwise has difficulty protecting himself or herself. The passenger's known condition can affect what precautions the circumstances reasonably require.

A particularly serious scenario occurs when a taxi discharges a passenger at an unsafe location and the passenger is then struck by another vehicle. The taxi may argue that the approaching motorist caused the accident, while the passenger may contend that the taxi driver unnecessarily placed the passenger into the danger. The precise location and circumstances of discharge can determine whether both actors bear responsibility.

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Taxi Partition Injuries

Traditional taxicabs can contain a rigid partition separating the driver from rear passengers. That creates an injury mechanism not ordinarily present in a private passenger automobile. During a collision, sudden stop, or abrupt maneuver, an unrestrained or improperly positioned rear passenger may be propelled into the partition. Partition impacts can cause facial injuries, dental trauma, concussions and traumatic brain injuries, cervical injuries, shoulder injuries, and knee or patellar injuries. When the partition contributed to the injury, its construction, installation, padding, location, condition, and relationship to the passenger seating area may warrant documentation before the vehicle is repaired or returned to ordinary service.

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Who Can Be Responsible for a Florida Taxi Accident?

Identifying the driver may be only the beginning of a taxi accident investigation. The person driving the cab may not own the vehicle, and the business name displayed on the taxi may not identify every entity involved in its operation. Traditional taxi businesses can involve separate vehicle owners, drivers, fleet companies, taxi companies, lessees, permit holders, dispatch operations, and insurers.

Depending upon the facts, potential liability theories can involve the driver's direct negligence, vehicle ownership and Florida's dangerous-instrumentality doctrine, employment or agency principles, negligent hiring or retention, negligent supervision, negligent maintenance, and independent negligence by another motorist or entity. These theories have different legal requirements, so the relationship among the driver, owner, and taxi company should be established through records rather than assumed from the vehicle's markings. Lease agreements, vehicle titles, registrations, insurance policies, operating permits, driver agreements, dispatch records, and company documents can be particularly important in determining who actually owned, controlled, insured, and operated the taxi.

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Are Taxi Drivers Employees or Independent Contractors?

Traditional taxi operations frequently use employment, lease, and independent-driver arrangements. Florida workers' compensation law specifically addresses certain taxicab, limousine, and other passenger vehicle-for-hire drivers who operate under qualifying written agreements. Whether a particular driver qualifies as an employee can therefore depend upon the statute being applied and the actual business arrangement.

The classification used for workers' compensation or wage purposes does not automatically answer every tort question after a passenger accident. Ownership, agency, actual control, permissive operation, negligent hiring, maintenance responsibilities, and other facts can independently affect liability. For a more detailed discussion, see our guide to Florida Taxi Driver Employment Laws, Overtime, Workers' Compensation and Independent Contractors.

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Do Taxi Drivers Receive Overtime?

Federal law contains an unusual exemption specifically directed to taxicab drivers. Under 29 U.S.C. section 213(b)(17), the federal Fair Labor Standards Act overtime requirement does not apply to a qualifying driver employed by an employer engaged in the business of operating taxicabs. The exemption concerns overtime compensation and should not be confused with a safety rule authorizing unlimited driving. It nevertheless matters when examining the economics of taxi work because a qualifying employee driver does not automatically receive the federal time-and-a-half premium after working more than 40 hours in a workweek.

That distinction becomes more significant when combined with the relatively modest current earnings reported for taxi drivers, the role of passenger tips, irregular schedules, waiting time between fares, and compensation arrangements under which obtaining additional passengers can directly increase the driver's income.

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How Much Do Florida Taxi Drivers Make?

Current O*NET wage data based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data report relatively modest earnings for Florida taxi drivers compared with the national taxi-driver benchmark. Government wage information should be interpreted carefully because compensation structures differ and BLS taxi-driver earnings can include tips. A taxi fare should also not be confused with a driver's take-home earnings. Depending upon the arrangement, a driver may face vehicle, lease, fuel, insurance, dispatch, toll, or other operating expenses. A driver may also spend substantial portions of the working day waiting at an airport, taxi stand, hotel, or other location without a paying passenger.

This creates an important economic distinction between time spent working and time actually generating passenger revenue. Our separate article, How Much Do Florida Taxicab Drivers Make? Taxi Pay, Tips and the Economics of Driving a Cab, examines current government pay sources, tipping, taxi operating economics, and how compensation may affect the incentive to seek additional fares.

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Can Pressure to Complete More Fares Increase Accident Risk?

Because a taxi driver's income may depend substantially on the number of fares completed during a shift, there can be an economic incentive to complete each trip quickly, reduce the time between passengers, and return as soon as possible to airports, hotels, taxi stands, or other locations where the next fare may be waiting. A driver who completes more trips has more opportunities to collect fares and receive tips, but pressure to expedite service can create safety risks if it influences driving behavior. Speeding, following too closely, accelerating through changing traffic signals, making abrupt lane changes, taking turns too quickly, rushing passenger pickup or discharge, and failing to allow adequate time for rest can increase the likelihood of an accident or passenger injury. The compensation structure does not establish that a particular taxi driver was negligent, but when excessive speed, aggressive driving, abrupt maneuvers, or fatigue contributes to an accident, the driver's fare history, trip frequency, dispatch records, compensation arrangement, and financial incentives may be relevant to determining whether pressure to complete additional fares affected the manner in which the taxi was operated.

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Are Taxi Drivers Subject to the Same Hours-of-Service Rules as Truck Drivers?

An ordinary passenger taxicab generally does not fall within the federal commercial-motor-vehicle classification that subjects qualifying truck and commercial passenger drivers to federal hours-of-service restrictions. A conventional taxi can therefore be operated commercially and transport paying passengers without becoming a commercial motor vehicle for purposes of those particular federal safety regulations. The distinction is based substantially upon regulatory classification rather than a determination that taxi-driver fatigue is harmless. Federal motor-carrier rules generally use vehicle weight, passenger capacity, interstate-commerce requirements, and other criteria to determine which operations fall within the regulatory system. A conventional taxi sedan or small SUV ordinarily falls below the relevant weight and compensated-passenger thresholds.

Consequently, a taxi driver can potentially spend long periods transporting members of the public without having the federally mandated electronic log and driving-hour restrictions commonly encountered in serious truck accident litigation. That makes taxi-specific evidence particularly important when fatigue is suspected.

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Taxi Driver Fatigue and Accident Risk

The absence of a federal truck-style hours limit does not authorize a taxi driver to operate when dangerously fatigued. A driver who recognizes, or reasonably should recognize, that exhaustion has impaired the ability to drive safely can still be negligent if the driver continues transporting passengers and causes an accident. Signs of fatigue can include delayed braking, lane drifting, inconsistent speed, missed traffic signals, repeated yawning, difficulty keeping the eyes open, striking curbs, unexplained loss of control, or actually falling asleep. When those circumstances exist, an investigation should determine when the driver's workday began, how long the driver had been awake, how many trips had been completed, what breaks were taken, whether the driver had another job, and whether the taxi company knew how long the driver had been operating.

Our Florida Taxi Driver Fatigue and Hours-of-Service page examines why conventional taxis generally fall outside the federal truck-driver HOS system and what evidence can be used to reconstruct a driver's working day.

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What Evidence Should Be Preserved in a Taxi Accident Case?

Taxi operations can generate evidence that is unavailable in an ordinary private-vehicle accident. Dispatch systems may identify when the driver became available and received passenger assignments, while meter and fare records can establish individual trips. GPS data, airport queue information, electronic payments, toll records, fuel purchases, company communications, and driver schedules can collectively reconstruct the taxi's activities before an accident. Passenger cases can require additional physical evidence. Photographs or video of the passenger compartment may document the partition, seats, seat belts, doors, floor, handles, or other components involved in an injury. Boarding, exiting, and unsafe-drop-off cases may require surveillance footage from hotels, airports, businesses, residences, or nearby traffic cameras.

Evidence can disappear quickly. Digital records may be overwritten, vehicles can be repaired or returned to service, and video can be deleted through routine retention practices. Early preservation can therefore be particularly important when the accident involves unusual taxi-specific circumstances.

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How Did Uber and Lyft Change Florida's Taxi Industry?

Uber and Lyft dramatically changed Florida's for-hire passenger transportation market beginning in the mid-2010s. Miami-Dade provides one of the clearest examples. Traditional taxis had operated in a market where the number of authorized vehicles was restricted, giving taxi operating rights considerable economic value. Rideshare platforms introduced thousands of competing drivers who could connect with passengers through smartphone applications without operating under the traditional taxi-medallion structure.

Taxi medallion values subsequently collapsed in Miami-Dade. That decline should not be confused with a precise measurement of taxi ridership, because Florida does not provide one simple statewide historical database showing every traditional taxi trip. It nevertheless provides powerful evidence of the economic disruption that followed the arrival of rideshare competition. Our separate article, The Decline of Taxicabs in Florida After Uber and Lyft, examines the Miami-Dade experience, the decline in medallion values, the growth of rideshare transportation, and why the distinction between a traditional taxi and a TNC vehicle still matters in an injury case.

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Is an Uber or Lyft Considered a Taxicab in Florida?

No. Florida created a separate statutory framework for transportation network companies under section 627.748. The statute distinguishes TNC vehicles from traditional taxicabs and establishes separate insurance requirements for rideshare operations. The difference is substantive, not merely terminology. During a qualifying prearranged Uber or Lyft ride, Florida's TNC statute generally requires $1 million in primary automobile liability coverage. Traditional taxicabs operate under the separate statutory framework discussed above, including sections 324.032 and 627.733.

Florida also expressly states in section 627.733 that section 627.737 does not apply to a motor vehicle used as a taxicab. An Uber or Lyft vehicle should therefore not automatically be given the traditional taxicab treatment simply because it performs the similar economic function of transporting a passenger for money.

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When Does Someone Become and Stop Being a Taxi Passenger?

Passenger status can become important because the heightened common-carrier relationship depends upon the transportation relationship between the carrier and passenger. The issue can arise when someone is injured while boarding, exiting, temporarily outside the taxi, retrieving luggage, or immediately after being discharged. Physical location alone may not always resolve the issue. The precise circumstances surrounding acceptance of the passenger, boarding, transportation, temporary departures, arrival at the destination, and discharge can matter. A defendant may contend that the common-carrier relationship had ended before an injury occurred, while the injured person may contend that the process of transportation or safe discharge had not yet been completed.

This is another reason taxi cases should be investigated beyond the moment of impact. The relevant sequence can begin when the passenger is accepted for transportation and continue through circumstances surrounding the passenger's departure.

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What Damages Can Be Recovered After a Florida Taxi Accident?

Depending upon the facts, recoverable damages can include medical expenses, future medical care, lost income, diminished earning capacity, pain and suffering, mental anguish, disability, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, property damage, and damages available under Florida's Wrongful Death Act when an accident is fatal. The absence of the section 627.737 threshold for vehicles used as taxicabs can make noneconomic damages particularly important. A person can suffer a serious and painful injury without ultimately being left with a medically permanent condition. Florida's specific treatment of taxicabs means that the ordinary automobile permanency analysis should not simply be assumed to govern the claim.

The value of any case nevertheless depends upon the actual injuries, medical evidence, liability, comparative fault, insurance, causation, and individual effect of the injury rather than the type of vehicle alone.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Florida Taxi Accidents

Does a Florida taxi have PIP?

Florida gives traditional taxicabs different treatment from ordinary vehicles under section 627.733 and directs taxi owners or registrants to the financial-responsibility requirements of section 324.032. Whether an injured passenger has PIP available through another applicable policy is a separate question that should be investigated.

Do I need a permanent injury to recover pain and suffering after a taxi accident?

Florida Statute section 627.733(1)(b) expressly states that section 627.737 does not apply to a motor vehicle used as a taxicab. That is an important difference from the statutory tort threshold frequently encountered in ordinary Florida automobile cases.

How much liability insurance does a Florida taxi need?

Section 324.032 provides a method of satisfying taxi financial responsibility through liability insurance with minimum limits of $125,000 per person, $250,000 per occurrence, and $50,000 for property damage. The actual insurance available in a particular case may be greater.

Is a taxi driver held to a higher standard when carrying a passenger?

Florida precedent recognizes traditional taxicabs transporting paying passengers as common carriers. The common-carrier relationship can impose a heightened standard of care concerning passenger safety, although the taxi is not an absolute insurer against every possible injury.

Can I have a taxi case if there was no collision?

Potentially. Taxi injuries can arise from sudden braking, abrupt turns, premature movement during boarding or exiting, unsafe discharge, door injuries, partition impacts, luggage handling, or other negligent conduct occurring during the passenger relationship.

Is Uber considered a taxi under Florida law?

No. Florida separately regulates transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft under section 627.748. Traditional taxicabs and TNC vehicles should not be treated as legally interchangeable.

Can taxi-driver fatigue establish negligence?

Fatigue can be relevant when the evidence establishes that exhaustion impaired the driver's ability to operate safely. Low earnings, tips, or long hours do not independently prove negligence, but trip history, dispatch information, driver hours, compensation arrangements, and company knowledge may become relevant when fatigue is actually implicated in the accident.

Can the taxi company escape responsibility by calling the driver an independent contractor?

Not necessarily. The driver's employment classification is only one part of the analysis. Vehicle ownership, permissive operation, agency, actual control, negligent hiring or supervision, maintenance responsibilities, and independent company negligence can potentially present separate issues depending upon the facts.

South Florida Taxi Accident Claims Require a Broader Investigation

A serious taxicab case can involve much more than determining which driver received a traffic citation. The investigation may need to establish whether the vehicle legally qualified as a taxicab, whether the injured person had passenger status, whether common-carrier principles applied, who owned and controlled the vehicle, what insurance was available, how the driver was compensated, how long the driver had been working, and whether dispatch, GPS, fare, video, or maintenance evidence needs to be preserved.

The distinctive statutory treatment of Florida taxicabs makes those questions particularly important. Florida imposes special financial-responsibility requirements, treats taxicabs differently under its PIP laws, expressly removes vehicles used as taxicabs from the section 627.737 threshold, and recognizes important duties arising from the transportation of paying passengers. Daniel B Reinfeld, PA represents people injured in taxicab, rideshare, car, truck, pedestrian, and other motor vehicle accidents throughout South Florida. A taxi accident should be evaluated according to the laws and facts governing the particular vehicle and passenger relationship rather than simply being treated as another automobile claim.​​

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Taxicab Accidents Require Real Trial Preparation

Taxicab accident cases can involve more than determining how a collision occurred. Careful preparation may include reviewing the driver's actions, opportunity to see and react to a danger, speed, sightlines, impact mechanics, available insurance coverage, medical causation, future limitations, and any claim that the injured person contributed to the accident. When the injured person was a passenger, additional issues may include the taxi driver's duty of care, the circumstances of boarding or exiting the vehicle, and whether the driver took reasonable steps to protect the passenger.

 

Daniel B Reinfeld, PA has experience representing people injured in motor-vehicle and pedestrian accidents through trial. The firm was recognized by TopVerdict for obtaining one of Florida's Top 10 Pedestrian Accident Verdicts in 2024 after securing a $1.6 million unanimous jury verdict. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every taxicab accident case depends on its own facts, evidence, applicable law, insurance and assets, injuries, and damages.

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​📞 Call Today.  Discuss Your Taxicab Accident Directly With Dan

If you or a family member was injured in a taxicab accident, early legal work can help preserve trip, dispatch, video, and other important records, identify the people and companies responsible, locate available insurance coverage, and protect important deadlines. You will speak directly with Dan—not a call center or intake department. Dan is a trial-tested personal injury lawyer with more than 25 years of experience and prior insurance-defense knowledge. He personally evaluates and handles every case accepted by the firm. You do not need to travel to the Hollywood office to begin your case. Consultations may be available by telephone, Zoom video conference, hospital visit, or home visit when appropriate

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