Star Tribune
When rented scooters malfunction and crash, who’s responsible?
Irina Gornovskaya and her boyfriend, Adam Barrett, set out to have some holiday fun, renting electric scooters for a Memorial Day ride across the Stone Arch Bridge and through downtown Minneapolis’ North Loop district.
The couple had taken the same ride several times before. But 10 minutes in, things went drastically wrong.
Gornovskaya’s Spin scooter gave out, the vehicle abruptly stopped and she went tumbling onto the pavement on 1st Avenue N. Gornovskaya broke her right arm, damaged ligaments in her left and sustained deep lacerations and scrapes over the rest of her body.
“You trust the company will have them in proper care,” she said in an interview two weeks after the crash. “You are not thinking about problems of them not being maintained or inspected.”
Facing $28,000 in medical bills and unsure if they will be covered by insurance, Gornovskaya, 40, of Burnsville, has thought a lot about the incident. She wonders who, if anyone, can be held responsible when a rented scooter malfunctions, and if she has any recourse.
Gornovskaya reported her mishap to Spin, which refunded the $12.94 she paid for the ride and offered an apology. But beyond that, the San Francisco-based company absolved itself of responsibility and directed Gornovskaya to the user agreement she signed.
“Unfortunately, Spin is not able to cover the cost of these damages,” part of an email the company sent to Gornovskaya read. “Our riders have agreed to accept responsibility for any damages caused or incurred while operating a Spin scooter. We sincerely apologize for the experience with us and promise to start the hard work of making sure this does not happen again. We’ll investigate this expeditiously and will pull that vehicle from public use immediately.”
Spin did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
The company’s rider agreement — like that of most other scooter rental companies — requires users to acknowledge that scooter riding is an “inherently dangerous recreational activity.” The agreement also has users agree to “indemnify, hold harmless, and forever release and discharge” the company and its subsidiaries from any and all injuries, demands, losses or damages.
Some companies, like Lime, carry corporate liability insurance, but experts say responsibility for damages is likely to fall on riders’ shoulders because of the terms and conditions users agree to when they download the app.
The implications of those rider agreements are murky, said Chuck Slane, a partner at TSR Injury Law and president of the Minnesota Association for Justice. When riders sign them, they assume some degree of risk and could be giving up some rights in cases when minor negligence is involved, he said. But you can’t sign away rights in cases where there is gross negligence, he added.
The difference between minor and gross negligence is “super vague,” Slane said. “The court has not ruled on what that means.”
That can make it tough to successfully take legal action, because the agreements generally stand up in court, said Bryant Greening, co-founder of Chicago-based LegalRideshare, which handles cases involving scooter injuries.
“There is a lot of risk for a rider,” Greening said. “They are inherently dangerous. Every time you get on a device, you put your health and safety at risk, and potentially a lack of recourse.”
There are ways to challenge rider agreements, Greening said, but to do so a rider would need to prove the scooter was defective in some way or provide proof the manufacturer was negligent. The scooter in question would need to be identified, pulled from service and inspected immediately, and “time is of the essence,” Greening said.
All that legwork could lead an attorney to shy away from taking a case like Gornovskaya’s, Slane said. It could come down to how badly a rider is injured, the ability to prove negligence and if the attorney could financially justify the case.
“Otherwise, probably not.” he said.
Barrett shared Gornovskaya’s case with Minneapolis City Council Member Michael Rainville, who said the lack of accountability is an issue the city may have to consider when awarding future contracts.
“It is not good policy to have the scooters not be responsible for a malfunction event,” he wrote in an email to Barrett. “I will ask our staff to add that requirement to the license agreement.”
Gornovskaya, a single mother, has been unsuccessful at finding an attorney to take her case. She said she isn’t looking to sue for money, but wants someone to be held accountable.
“You can die on a scooter because they are not maintained,” she said. “You take all the risk.”
Dozens wept and embraced before releasing scores of balloons Saturday over north Minneapolis to remember two community pillars who were killed in a fiery car accident.
The crowd gathered near 26th and Emerson avenues to remember Esther Jean Fulks, 53, and Rose Elaine Reece, 57. They died on Dec. 16 when Teniki Latrice Elise Steward, 38, allegedly drove through a red light and struck their vehicle. A teen waiting at a nearby bus stop also was injured.
Fulks and Reese “gave their love and their hard work and dedication to the community. And as you can see, there’s people out here for them,” said Fulks’ daughter, D’Nia. “I’m going to miss my mom. That was my world, I was with her day in and day out. I was hoping to come home to my mom and it didn’t happen.”
“It means a lot,” Esther’s son, Joseph Loyd, said of neighbors attending the balloon release. “It shows what they contributed to the community and how much they meant to people. Not just their own families, but they touched countless other families and helped people.”
Emmary Thomas set a candle down at a bus stop during a balloon release Saturday for Esther Fulks and Rose Reece at 26th and Emerson avenues in north Minneapolis. Fulks and Reece died in a crash at the intersection on Dec. 16. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Flowers, balloons, candles and pictures sat at a bus stop during a balloon release Saturday for Esther Fulks and Rose Reece in north Minneapolis. Fulks and Reece died in a crash at the intersection on Dec. 16. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Drakarr Lobley hugged a supporter during Saturday’s balloon release for Esther Fulks and Rose Reece in north Minneapolis. Fulks and Reece died in a crash at the intersection on Dec. 16. Lobley is Reece’s son. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Family and friends said Fulks and Reece were pillars of the community who treated strangers like family and brought love to those around them. Both had worked as navigators for the Minneapolis Cultural Wellness Center since 1998, connecting residents to food, clothing, shelter and other resources.
“They reminded us daily of the transformative power of service, love, and cultural connection,” Elder Atum Azzahir, executive director of the Cultural Wellness Center, said in a statement. “They were not just navigators — they were beacons of hope, guiding people toward brighter futures.”
At the crash scene Saturday, loved ones embraced while shedding tears and sharing memories. Anthony Hamilton’s “I Can’t Let Go” played as passing motorists shouted condolences and words of support. Caution tape strung to a traffic cone near the intersection fluttered in the wind.
Hit by headwinds including inflationary pressures, competition from e-commerce sites, big box retailers, pop-up stores and even a helium shortage, Party City is going out of business.
The closing of the nation’s largest party supply store, reported by CNN on Friday, is expected to shutter more than 700 retail stores in North America by the end of February, including 10 stores in Minnesota.
According to the company’s website, Party City has outlets in Apple Valley, Bloomington, Chanhassen, Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, Maplewood, Roseville, St. Cloud, St. Louis Park and Woodbury. Employees contacted at stores in Roseville, St. Cloud and Apple Valley said they had heard of the closing but could not comment.
Party City, which sells everything from balloons, costumes and birthday banners to gender reveal props and New Year’s Eve tiaras, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2023. That resulted in the cancellation of nearly $1 billion in debt.
The 38-year-old New Jersey-based company exited bankruptcy after naming a new CEO, Barry Litwin, in August. But the company was still contending with more than $800 million in debt, according to CNN. The New York Times reported the company employed more than 16,000 people.
A panel of independent health experts recommended this month against older adults using vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent falls and fractures, citing inadequate evidence to support their effectiveness.
The guidance from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force underscores the risks of supplementation without prior testing and diagnosis for a vitamin D deficiency or for osteoporosis.
While vitamin D and calcium are important for bone health and muscle function, the task force, a blue-ribbon panel of experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine, said the supplements do little to reduce falls or fractures, and they may increase the risk of kidney stones.
The task force said the recommendation applies to people living at home, including women who have gone through menopause and men 60 years and older. It does not apply to people in assisted living or nursing homes because people living in those facilities may be more prone to health complications, including risk of falls.
Patients whose medical providers have suggested supplements as part of their clinical regimen are recommended to continue with that guidance.
The task force assigned a grade of D to the recommendation, indicating that it advises against use of the supplements because of moderate or high certainty that they provide no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits — discouraging its use.
Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among people 65 and older, a problem that increased steadily from 2012 to 2021. In 2020, health care spending related to falls in older adults that did not result in death was $80 billion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
John M. Ruiz, a task force member, said the answer to minimizing the risk of falling does not lie in vitamin supplementation. He said a review of research by the health experts found no dose of vitamin D with or without calcium was useful in preventing falls and fractures.
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