Christopher B. Dolan

Ride-hailing litigation and the legal future of driverless cars are on Dolan's docket. He has a major wrongful death suit in progress against Uber Technologies Inc., which he is seeking to leverage into a crusade to advance insurance protections in the industry.

Dolan represents the family of Sofia Liu, 6, who was struck and killed by an Uber car driven by Syed Muzaffar at a San Francisco intersection at about 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve 2013 as she walked home with her mother and 5-year-old brother. The mother and brother were injured. "The driver was logged on to the Uber system, but Uber claimed it had no responsibility because there was no passenger in the car at the time," Dolan said. "The driver's personal insurance of $15,000 did not apply because he was working for Uber." Liu v. Uber Technologies Inc., CGC-14-536979 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 27, 2014)

With wrongful death and negligence claims, Dolan added a novel product liability cause of action based on the Uber app Muzaffar was using during the accident. "It's a defective product, a defective app," he said. "California law prohibits distracted driving, yet Uber drivers have to look at the app to get text messages. Uber really doesn't want to get that into court."

The Liu family worked with Dolan, the Consumer Attorneys of California lobby, and Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) to help pass a bill, AB 2293, that requires transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft Inc. to have liability insurance. Gov. Jerry Brown signed it in September 2014; it took effect July 1, 2015.

After the bill passed, Uber settled the Liu case for an undisclosed amount that Dolan termed "to the plaintiffs' satisfaction."

"Unfortunately, it took the notoriety of Sofia's death to effect national change," Dolan said. He foresees an upcoming wave of driverless car litigation to be the next major move in transportation law. "There have been no personal injuries in California yet," he said, "but in Philadelphia, Uber has petitioned to put full driverless vehicles in service. This is coming on fast."

Dolan is a party to the California Public Utilities Commission's rulemaking process as it strives to frame regulations for new forms of transit. "I represent the interests of those hurt by these new transportation network carriers," he said. "The future is now."

- John Roemer