Podcast Description
In this episode of It’s No Accident, Jaeson and Mark break down what really happens when ride-sharing accidents turn into legal battles. Whether you’re a passenger in an Uber or hit by a Lyft driver, they explain how these cases are more complex than your average car crash, especially when it comes to insurance. With multiple tiers of coverage depending on what the driver was doing at the time, Jaeson and Mark share what’s changed over the years and what that means for injured passengers or other drivers on the road.
They also dig into situations where things go beyond just a wreck—like cases involving unsafe drivers, poorly maintained vehicles, or even assaults. The hosts talk about how companies try to protect themselves using legal loopholes like calling drivers “contractors” or forcing people into arbitration. They even touch on how all this plays out for food delivery drivers, too. It’s an eye-opening conversation for anyone who uses ride-sharing apps.
Episode Transcript
You know, obviously, we handle a lot of car wreck cases, and one thing that has become more prevalent—not just recently, but over time—is ride-sharing, like Uber and Lyft. These cases can involve people who were passengers in a rideshare vehicle during a wreck, or our client might be in the other vehicle and got into a wreck with a rideshare car.
I know you’ve handled several of these cases. What are some of the ways these cases differ from a standard car wreck involving two private drivers, where it isn’t a taxi or ride-share situation?
Yeah, it’s been interesting to see how these ride-sharing cases have evolved in personal injury law over the years. When we first started practicing law, Uber and Lyft weren’t even around. They came onto the scene maybe 10 to 15 years ago in bigger cities, and at first, there were almost no regulations about insurance coverage for these companies.
Initially, it was kind of the Wild West. No one had any rules about what insurance had to be in place for Uber or Lyft vehicles. Over time, states started implementing legislation to regulate the insurance coverage that these companies must provide for their passengers.
In Florida, for example, it gets pretty specific in the statutes. There are different tiers of insurance coverage based on what the driver was doing at the time. The highest coverage applies when a driver is actively transporting a passenger. If you’re injured in a crash during that time, the most coverage is available. The second tier applies if the Uber or Lyft driver is logged into the app and looking for a passenger but hasn’t picked one up yet. I believe there might even be a third tier—though I’d need to double-check—for situations where the app is on, but they aren’t actively searching for a passenger.
Other than those insurance differences, the case often turns into a typical auto accident case, where we have to determine who is at fault. But rideshare cases can bring up additional negligence issues like negligent entrustment—should this person have even been allowed to drive for Uber in the first place? Was the car fit to be used for rideshare driving?
We’ve also seen cases involving physical or sexual assault by a rideshare driver, which raises different legal questions. In those cases, it often comes down to notice and foreseeability. Did the company know or should they have known that this person wasn’t safe or responsible? If the driver had a history of violations, speeding tickets, or vehicle breakdowns, and the company still allowed them to drive, that could be the basis of a claim.
On the other hand, if the driver had a completely clean record and this was a one-off fluke, it’s harder to make that case. And then you get into things like arbitration clauses—those terms and conditions you agree to when downloading the app, which might limit your ability to sue and instead force you into arbitration.
For the drivers themselves, especially those doing it full-time or as a side gig, it’s important to know what their own insurance covers. Early on, we could go after the driver’s insurance as well as Uber’s coverage. But now, most personal auto policies exclude coverage if you’re actively driving for a rideshare company. So we’re often left with just the coverage Uber or Lyft provides.
This issue also applies to food delivery services like DoorDash and Uber Eats. These companies have their own insurance policies, and again, each driver’s personal insurance often includes exclusions when they’re delivering food.
Over time, Uber and Lyft have become more sophisticated in insulating themselves legally. Drivers are classified as 1099 contractors rather than employees, which makes it harder to hold the company directly liable. If an employee of a company does something negligent, the company can usually be sued. But with independent contractors, that link is more tenuous.
It varies state by state, and we’ve seen different outcomes depending on how courts interpret whether these drivers are true contractors or actually employees. Especially in catastrophic cases involving paralysis or death—where the insurance coverage doesn’t come close to covering medical expenses—people try to go after the company itself.
In some states, that strategy has worked; in others, it hasn’t. It really boils down to how that state’s courts classify the working relationship between the driver and the rideshare company.
In big damages cases, we also look into negligent hiring or negligent entrustment. Sometimes you find a spotless 20-year driving history and there’s nothing there. But other times, the driver might have had multiple DUIs or 15 speeding tickets, raising the question of whether Uber or Lyft did any real vetting before letting them drive under their banner.
Those are the kinds of situations where we start to explore liability beyond just the available insurance coverage.
Mark continued his studies at Florida State University College of Law, graduating cum laude in 2008. While in law school, Mark was a member of the Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law and the Journal of Transnational Law & Policy, as well as a certified legal intern with the FSU Public Interest Law Center, where he assisted low-income clients with a wide range of family law issues. He also served as a law clerk intern to The Honorable L. Clayton Roberts of Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
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