Ride-Hailing Companies – The Evolving Landscape of Legal Liabilities

Ride-Hailing Companies (RHC) have become an almost indispensable part of the transport sector in most economies. Over the years, the likes of Uber, Lyft, Bolt ( Taxify), Cabify or Bird, Gokada have emerged, proving to be more convenient and reliable alternatives to the less-than-eﬃcient public transport system in Nigeria.

Although most of the rides are incident-free, there have been recorded cases of accidents as well as social media reports of defamation, unauthorized video recording of undesirable encounters with RHC drivers, kidnaps, sexual assaults (and in some cases, rape) or outright murder. These might constitute potential liabilities to the RHC or their employees.

Considering the dearth of Nigerian judicial precedents on RHC liability issues, our newsletter briefly examines recent judicial attitudes (around the globe) towards these issues. It posits the likely posture Nigerian courts may adopt when faced with such problems.

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