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If you were hurt in a crash with an Uber or Lyft driver, you may have a path to seek compensation for your medical bills, lost income, and pain, and the lawyer you choose has a direct effect on how much of it you recover. Freeman Law Firm's Olympia rideshare accident attorneys have recovered millions for injured victims across Washington and take cases to trial when Uber's or Lyft's insurance carrier will not pay the full amount. Call (360) 338-6886 to talk with an attorney. You pay no upfront fees.
The driver who caused the crash is responsible for it, the same as any other driver on the road, and your case is against that driver. Uber and Lyft call their drivers independent contractors, and both companies state in their user terms that they do not provide transportation. A 2022 Washington law, RCW 49.46.300, treats drivers as contractors for wage, insurance, and workers' compensation purposes, but it does not address whether the company answers for a driver's crash.
When a company hires a driver as an employee, the company is responsible for crashes the driver causes on the job. Uber and Lyft use contractor status to avoid automatic responsibility for a driver's crash. Contractor status gives the company no protection, however, when the company itself did something wrong, for example by putting a driver on the platform without a background check or keeping a driver on after complaints about dangerous driving.
Any time the driver is logged in to the app, RCW 46.72B.180 requires the rideshare company to carry insurance on the driver. If the driver's own policy fails to pay for any reason, including because it lapsed or never existed, the company's policy has to pay from the first dollar. In practice, you bring your case against the driver, and Uber's or Lyft's insurance carrier pays. How much coverage is available depends on what the driver was doing in the app at the time.
If a different driver hit the rideshare car you were riding in, your case is against that driver, and that driver's insurance is the first source of payment. If that driver had no insurance or too little to cover your injuries, the underinsured motorist coverage Washington requires Uber and Lyft to carry during a ride can be a source of compensation, depending on your levels.
Uber and Lyft insure their drivers at three different levels, and the level that applies to your crash is set by what the driver was doing in the app at the time.
Uber and Lyft each carry a $1 million liability policy for crashes that happen while a passenger is in the car. Washington also requires both companies to carry underinsured motorist coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident during a ride, which pays when another driver caused the crash and had no insurance or too little to cover your injuries.
Washington treats the ride as starting the moment the driver accepts the request, so the same $1 million policy applies from acceptance until the passenger gets out of the car.
Washington law requires Uber and Lyft to carry at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for injuries, and $30,000 for property damage, during the time a driver is logged in and waiting for a request. If the app was off, the driver's personal auto policy is the only coverage.
The difference between $100,000 and $1 million gives the insurance carrier a reason to argue the driver had not accepted a ride yet when the crash happened. Uber and Lyft hold the app data and GPS records that show the driver's status at that moment, and neither company is required to hand them to you when you ask. Freeman Law Firm's attorneys obtain those records from Uber and Lyft, through a lawsuit's discovery process when the company will not release them voluntarily, and use them to prove which coverage level applies to your case.
Uber and Lyft can be held responsible for a crash when the company let a driver on the road who should have been kept off it. RCW 46.72B.090 requires each company to run a criminal background check and review the driving record of every driver before approving them and again every year, and it disqualifies a driver for any of the following:
When a company approved a driver with a disqualifying record, skipped the annual re-check, or kept a driver on after learning of a disqualifying conviction, the company's own negligence is a separate basis for your case, and the contractor defense does not apply to it.
Insurance policies carried by rideshare companies make money will be available to cover any claims against their drivers, but the victim still have to prove they have suffered damages as a result of the accident. Damages from an accident are typically broken down into economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages can include the following:
Damages are non-economic if they do not have a clear price tag:
Insurance companies regularly challenge damage claims in personal injury cases, so proof of the damages they suffered has to be provided to receive compensation. The experienced personal injury attorneys at Freeman Law can help document all losses so that they are properly taken into account when settling a case.
Under the comparative negligence rule applied in the state of Washington, a person injured in an accident can file a claim, even if their actions contributed to the accident. For example, if a driver involved in an accident is found to bear 70% of the responsibility, they can still file a claim against the other driver. But the amount of the claim is also reduced by the percentage a driver is responsible for. For example, in the case where a driver was found to be 70% at fault, they would only be eligible to receive 30% of the damages.
Washington’s statute of limitations for personal injury gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. If Uber's or Lyft's insurance carrier has already sent you a settlement offer, have an attorney read it before you sign, because accepting it releases the driver and the company from any further payment for the crash, including medical costs that may occur in the future.
Freeman Law Firm's Olympia attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for injured victims across Washington. We obtain the records from Uber and Lyft that prove which policy covers your crash, we demand the full cost of your injuries from the insurance carrier, and we take the case to trial when the carrier refuses to pay it. Call (360) 338-6886 and schedule your free consultation. You’ll pay nothing unless we obtain financial recovery on your behalf.
Washington requires the rideshare policy to include personal injury protection, which pays medical bills for a passenger in the car without waiting for fault to be settled. Your own auto policy's PIP coverage and your health insurance are the other sources of payment in the meantime.
Yes. Both apps have an accident report form, and Uber's rider terms require you to report a crash within 24 hours. The report creates a record with the company that ties the crash to the trip. Report the facts and say nothing about who was at fault.
If another driver caused the crash while you had a passenger or were on the way to one, and that driver had no insurance or too little, the underinsured motorist coverage on the rideshare policy covers you. If your app was off, your own auto policy is the only coverage.
Both of them. A passenger has a case against whichever driver caused the crash, and when fault is split, against both, with each driver's insurance carrier paying its share. A passenger did nothing to cause the crash, so comparative fault does not reduce a passenger's recovery.
Uber's and Lyft's rider terms include an arbitration clause that covers injury claims against the company. The clause does not stop you from suing the driver who caused the crash, and it does not apply to a pedestrian or a driver in another car who never agreed to the terms. Freeman Law Firm's attorneys review the clause in every rideshare case and pursue the company in the forum the terms allow.