Court blocks couple from suing Uber for crash because their 12-year-old agreed to terms

A New Jersey couple that suffered serious injuries while taking an Uber ride will not be allowed to sue the company after a state court ruled they cannot because they agreed to Uber’s terms of service, even though they say their 12-year-old daughter was the one to accept the terms while using her mother’s Uber Eats account.

Georgia and John McGinty were riding in an Uber while coming home from dinner in 2022 when they say their driver ran a red light which led to an accident.

“We went right through the light, and there was a loud bang and a hard crash,” John McGinty, who appeared along with his wife Georgia, told TODAY in an interview that aired on Oct. 2.

The couple had multiple broken bones and Georgia McGinty suffered internal injuries.

“They kind of got me out on a stretcher, and it was like pouring rain on top of me, and I could hear John calling to me from the other ambulance,” she said.

But the couple’s attempt to sue Uber was blocked by the New Jersey Superior Court, which ruled they cannot do so because she agreed to the company’s terms of service. Those terms feature an arbitration provision “waiving the right to a trial by jury” in the case of an accident.

The couple, however, say Georgia McGinty wasn’t the one who agreed to the terms for Uber’s most recent update. They say the most recent terms were accepted by her daughter, who was using her mother’s Uber Eats account to order a pizza.

The court said that Georgia McGinty was still bound by the terms because she had agreed to previous versions of them.

“The plaintiff agreed to Uber’s terms of service on three separate occasions, including when she first signed up in 2015,” Uber said in a statement to NBC News. 

If the two sides go to arbitration, the matter will be settled in private by a third party. Oftentimes, that works out in favor of companies.

“They won’t get bad press, and an arbitrator is usually less likely to give out a big damages award than a jury of someone’s peers,” NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos said on TODAY.

The court’s ruling comes months after a man attempted to sue Disney for wrongful death after his wife died following an allergic reaction she had when she ate at a restaurant in Disney World.

At first, Disney said the man had to adhere to the terms of service he consented to on Disney+ streaming account, but the company eventually wound up waiving arbitration in August after the case generated a lot of headlines.

“With such unique circumstances as the ones in this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution,” Chairman of Disney Experience Josh D’Amaro said Aug. 20 about the decision.

The McGintys, meanwhile, plan to appeal the court’s decision and hope their case could change the law.

“I think that we need, as a society, to move to try to protect consumers,” Georgia McGinty said.

The court’s ruling comes months after a man attempted to sue Disney for wrongful death after his wife died following an allergic reaction she had when she ate at a restaurant in Disney World.

At that time, a spokesperson for Disney told NBC News: “We are deeply saddened by the family’s loss and understand their grief.

Given that this restaurant is neither owned nor operated by Disney, we are merely defending ourselves against the plaintiff’s attorney’s attempt to include us in their lawsuit against the restaurant.”

Disney said the man had to adhere to the terms of service he consented to on his Disney+ streaming account, but the company eventually agreed to waive arbitration in August.

“With such unique circumstances as the ones in this case, we believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution,” Chairman of Disney Experience Josh D’Amaro said Aug. 20 about the decision.

The case is still active.

The McGintys, meanwhile, plan to appeal the court’s decision and hope their case could change the law.

“I think that we need, as a society, to move to try to protect consumers,” Georgia McGinty said.

Uber told TODAY that the driver involved in the crash no longer has access to the platform.

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