DoorDash maintains it does not owe a general duty of protection to other drivers after the Indiana Court of Appeals issued an opinion to the contrary.
The court’s decision earlier this month centered on a lawsuit filed by Brian Oller over a 2020 accident in northern Indiana involving DoorDash driver Trey Culvey.
Culvey ran a stop sign and crashed into a pickup truck driven by Oller, according to the appeals court opinion, which said Culvey then left Oller pinned under the truck while completing his delivery on foot.
The appellate court had overturned a partial judgment issued by the Porter Superior Court in which the lower court agreed that DoorDash does not owe a duty of protection to Oller.
The appeals court noted that the company’s business incentivizes drivers for delivering as many orders as possible while using a mobile app. Such activities could lead to unsafe driving.
The court’s opinion noted that the company owed Oller “a general duty of protection from the risks and dangers of its business model and app.”
But a DoorDash spokesperson told The Indiana Lawyer recently that established state law “does not impose duties with respect to motor vehicle operations upon anyone other than the operator or the owner.”
“We are reviewing this decision and considering next steps because it is our continued belief that DoorDash is not liable in this case,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The case is Brian Oller v. DoorDash Inc. and Trey Culvey, 26A-CT-425.
This article was first published by The Indiana Lawyer.
