US couple unable to sue Uber after life-altering crash due to Uber Eats order

A New Jersey court has ruled that a married couple that were in a life-altering car accident during an Uber ride, can’t sue the company as they and their daughter agreed to arbitration when they accepted the terms of service for a separate Uber Eats order.
According to court documents, John and Georgia McGinty, a couple from Mercer County, suffered “serious physical, psychological, and financial damage” when the Uber they were riding in crashed into another car. Almost a year later, in February 2023, they filed a lawsuit against the ride-hailing company.
Georgia sustained several fractures throughout her body, including cervical, lumbar, spine and rib fractures and other physical injuries in the car crash that required surgery and other procedures, and was unable to return to her job until 2023, NPR reported.
Meanwhile, her husband John suffered a fractured sternum and severe fractures to his left arm and wrist.
As a result, the couple tried taking Uber to court to get compensation for their financial losses, including medical and child care expenses. However, an appellate court recently ruled they can’t because they previously agreed to Uber’s updated terms and conditions requiring arbitration, which are the same in the Uber Eats and Uber ride app, CNN reported.
The McGintys retaliated, claiming that their daughter, who was and is still a minor, was the one who had most recently consented to the terms when she placed an order through Uber Eats using Georgia’s phone. They claimed that they never had the “opportunity to see the pop-up”, and their daughter agreed to it knowingly or unknowingly while tracking the food order.
A lower court had previously sided with the couple, saying that Uber’s arbitration clause wasn’t enforceable because the pop-up with the terms of service “fail[ed] to clearly and unambiguously inform plaintiff of her waiver of the right to pursue her claims in a judicial forum”.
The appellate court reversed the decision, saying the company’s terms are “valid and enforceable”.
“We are horrified at what the court’s decision suggests: A large corporation like Uber can avoid being sued in a court of law by injured consumers because of contractual language buried in a dozen-page-long user agreement concerning services unrelated to the one that caused the consumers’ injuries,” CNN quoted the couple as saying.
The McGinty’s are reviewing the court’s ruling and will likely petition the New Jersey Supreme Court.