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The two largest scooter companies in the US are named as part of a class-action lawsuit filed on Friday, where they claim they or their properties have been injured by Bird and Lime scooters as a result of "gross negligence."
The complaint, which was filed in Los Angeles County Courtesy of Curbed, which does not include scooter riders but pedestrians who say they have sustained injuries which include broken wrists, toes, and fingers, torn ligaments, face lacerations, and " damaged "teeth.
"We filed this class-action lawsuit against birds and lice, and the continuing harm they are causing," Santa Monica personal-injury lawyer Catherine Lerer Peter Holley, who broke the news Washington Post.
Lerer said she has received more than 100 calls from people injured by the dockless mobility devices. Her firm, McGee, Lerer & Associates, has a page on its website dedicated to electric scooters.
In addition to the scooter companies being named for "aiding and abetting assault", "the complaint also states that the scooters are on public roads and is a public nuisance". "Scores (if not hundreds) of riders and pedestrians and members of the public [who] have suffered, are continuing to suffer and are suffering from
Three plaintiffs were injured by tripping over scooters left in the right of way; Two plaintiffs were injured while riding scooters, and two plaintiffs were injured when scooter riders crashed into them while walking.
Not all the plaintiffs sustained injuries due to scooters. One plaintiff says a scooter caused damage to his car. A plaintiff with a disability claim that the way scooters were parked disabled access to parking spaces for cars.
In addition to Bird and Lime, Xiaomi and Segway scooter manufacturers are named as defendants on the complaint.
A spokesperson for Lime said that the company does not have lawsuits, but it does not matter what they are. Lime, as is the mission of reducing them and making them safer and greener for pedestrians , bike and scooter riders alike. "
Bird, which has offices in Santa Monica and Los Angeles, noted that, "there is no evidence that riding an e-scooter presents a greater level of danger to riders than riding a bike. Cars remain the greatest threat to commuters, killing over 40,000 people in the US yearly. "
Two people have been killed while riding a scooter-share over the past year, including a death in Washington, DC where a Lime scooter rider was hit and dragged by a busy intersection by an SUV driver. No deaths have been reported where people have walked by scooters. Several emergency rooms have reported an uptick in scooter injuries, but no city has provided data to confirm the trend.
Bird and Lime are two companies which have recently been granted contracts by the city of Santa Monica to operate as part of a pilot program. Lyft, which also has scooters on the ground in Santa Monica, was not named in the complaint.
The lawsuit says that scooter companies should be required, but those warnings are not specified. On the same day was filed, Lime announced several changes to its scooter model such as aluminum body, fatter wheels, better suspension, and a dual braking system that stops both the front and rear wheels at the same time.
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