Rideshare Liability: Who’s Responsible When Accidents Involve Uber or Lyft Drivers

The rise of ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft has unsurprisingly led to an uptick in auto accidents involving these services. Whether you’re looking at the situation as a rideshare passenger or a different driver in your vehicle, ridesharing presents a unique set of challenges in assessing related accident claims. Most important is the question of how the law assigns liability when accidents involve Uber or Lyft drivers.

Employment Classification

For employment purposes in nearly all U.S. jurisdictions, rideshare drivers are independent contractors. They can take or decline proposed fares based on what they see on the app, fulfilling the basic requirement for an at-will worker. That is the main defining feature of an independent contractor.

Rideshare Company Insurance

Notably, most states’ regulations require transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft to carry coverage for contractor drivers’ activities. Although TNCs frequently contest direct employer liability, TNCs carry mandated insurance coverage. This is to address situations where the TNC might be directly liable. For example, a TNC might have to pay a claim if it repeatedly ignored a contractor’s hazardous driving patterns. There are also scenarios where the TNC might be on the hook if a driver’s auto insurance carrier denies a claim.

Tiers of Insurance Coverage

Multiple conditions affect who might be liable in a ridesharing accident case. These include questions about whether the app was on, the driver was awaiting a ride request, the driver was en route or a passenger was on board. What happened with another driver involved in the accident may also affect the claim.

A Non-Rideshare Third Party Was at Fault

This is easily the simplest scenario. In such a case, an injured rideshare passenger would pursue a claim through the third party’s auto insurance. In other words, it would proceed like a normal auto accident injury claim.

App Off

This is another relatively simple scenario. The rideshare driver, if they were at fault for the injuries and vehicle damage, would be liable. The claim proceeds through the rideshare driver’s auto insurance policy because they were effectively operating like any other motorist.

App On Awaiting Ride Request

This is arguably the murkiest scenario. The TNC’s insurance likely covers the driver, but the insurer may have a fairly low coverage limit. There are also scenarios where the driver’s choice to engage in personal activities like running personal errands could interfere with TNC liability, making this a personal auto insurance case. Worse, some drivers work for multiple companies simultaneously, taking the best fares as they appear. This can make sorting out liability harder.

En Route

At this point, the TNC’s commercial liability coverage should be the primary policy for the claim. There may be some coverage limits on third-party liability, but the caps tend to be around one million dollars. As a potential claimant, you would be looking at filing the claim through the TNC’s insurer.

Passenger On Board

This is the strongest case for directly pursuing a claim against the TNC’s policy. Likewise, the TNC’s maximum coverage level should be in effect at this time because of the risk of catastrophic injuries to passengers and other drivers during this period.

Proving a Claim

In rideshare cases, a lot boils down to what you can prove about the driver’s status at the time of the accident. If the TNC insurer tries to push liability to the driver’s insurance, you may need to push for discovery of data from the rideshare company’s servers and the driver’s phone. Consequently, victims of rideshare accidents often seek legal counsel before filing a claim so they can navigate the complexities.