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California Uber & Lyft Passenger Injury Lawyer
Hurt while riding in an Uber or Lyft? This page is for injured passengers.
You were the passenger, not the person controlling either vehicle. We investigate which driver and which insurance company may be responsible.
Call (888) 979-7979Free consultation
✓ No attorney’s fee unless we recover for you; case costs are explained in your written fee agreement
Cameron Yadidi Brock · Founding Attorney, Law Offices of Burg & Brock
California State Bar #183112 · Admitted 1996
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Can I Make a Claim If I Was Injured as an Uber or Lyft Passenger?
In most cases, yes.
As a passenger you were not driving either vehicle, so fault for the collision sits with someone else. That is the strongest position anyone involved in a rideshare crash can be in.
What has to be worked out is which driver caused it, which policies were in force at that moment, and what your injuries and losses actually are. Those answers decide the claim, not the headline number on any insurance policy.
Who Pays When an Uber or Lyft Passenger Is Injured?
It depends on who caused the collision. These are the three situations we see.
Why Passenger Claims Work Differently
How Insurance Works When You Are a Rideshare Passenger
Your position
Passenger in the vehicle, on an active trip
Generally Period 3, which carries the same $1 million liability requirement as Period 2, plus uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
What If the Other Driver Is Uninsured or Underinsured?
It is a common and frustrating situation, and it does not automatically end the claim. Whether uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage applies depends on the platform, the policy and the circumstances, and it should be investigated rather than assumed either way.
Can I Sue Uber or Lyft Directly?
This one gets answered too simply on most websites, in both directions. The honest answer is that the rideshare company’s insurance may respond to your claim without that automatically making the platform itself legally liable for the collision. Those are two different questions, and only the first one is usually what a passenger needs.
Who can be held responsible depends on the facts. It may be:
What Compensation May Be Available to an Injured Passenger?
Where another party is legally responsible, an injured passenger may potentially seek compensation for losses such as these. What applies, and what any of it is worth, depends entirely on the facts of the case.
Injuries We See in Rideshare Passenger Cases
Back-seat passengers are often struck without warning and without the bracing a driver instinctively does. That produces its own pattern of injuries.
Brain injury Spinal injury Neck and back injury Fractures Orthopedic injury Internal injury Burns Catastrophic injury Wrongful death
Severity drives almost everything else in a claim: the treatment, the losses, the time it takes and the coverage that has to be found.
Evidence a Rideshare Passenger Should Preserve
What Should I Do After Being Injured as a Passenger?
Should I Give a Statement to Uber, Lyft or an Insurance Company?
How Burg & Brock Handles a Passenger Injury Claim
UberLawyer.com is the dedicated rideshare injury practice of the Law Offices of Burg & Brock. This is the work a passenger claim actually involves.
How Long Do I Have to Make a Passenger Injury Claim?
2 YEARS*
General limitation period
*Many California personal injury lawsuits are subject to a two-year limitation period. That is the general rule, not a guarantee that your claim has exactly two years.
Shorter and different deadlines apply in some situations, and claims involving a government entity are the clearest example: those can require formal notice within a matter of months, not years.
Insurance policies can also impose their own notice requirements, separate from the statute of limitations.
How Much Is an Uber or Lyft Passenger Injury Case Worth?
There is no calculator that answers this honestly. What a case is worth turns on the following, and they interact.
The Attorney Behind Our Rideshare Injury Content
Cameron Yadidi Brock
Founding Attorney, Law Offices of Burg & Brock
California State Bar #183112 · Admitted 1996
Cameron founded the firm and has practised California personal injury law since 1996. His work covers serious motor-vehicle collisions, catastrophic injury, wrongful death and commercial transportation matters, which is the ground rideshare passenger claims sit on.
Frequently Asked Questions About Uber and Lyft Passenger Injuries
Do I have a claim if the Uber driver caused the crash?
Generally yes. You were a passenger on an active trip, and the rideshare commercial liability coverage is normally the policy that responds. You are not usually suing your own driver personally.
What if another driver caused my Uber accident?
Your claim runs against that motorist and their insurer. If their limits are insufficient, other coverage available on the trip may need to be examined.
Does Uber’s $1 million insurance mean my case is worth $1 million?
No. That figure is the liability policy limit available to respond to claims during a passenger trip. It is not what any individual claim is worth, and it is not a sum a passenger is entitled to. Value depends on injuries, losses and evidence.
Does a passenger have to prove which driver caused the crash?
Liability does have to be established, but as the passenger you are not the one whose driving is in question. Determining fault between the drivers is part of the investigation, and it is not your burden to pick between them.
What if both drivers blame each other?
That is common and it does not stall a passenger claim the way people fear. California allows fault to be apportioned between drivers, and a claim can proceed against more than one party while that is resolved.
What if the at-fault driver has no insurance?
Applicable uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage should be identified and investigated. Whether it applies depends on the platform, the policy and the circumstances of the crash.
Can I make a claim if someone else booked the Uber or Lyft?
Being injured as a passenger is what matters, not whose account or phone booked the ride. Do tell your attorney who booked it, because the trip record sits in that person’s app.
What if I was injured getting into or out of the Uber?
It can still be a claim, and these cases turn closely on the specific facts: where the vehicle stopped, what happened, and what the platform status was at that moment. Worth reviewing rather than assuming either way.
Can I recover lost wages even though I was a passenger?
Yes, where another party is responsible. Lost income is a recoverable loss regardless of whether you were driving, and it is proven with wage records and medical work restrictions.
Will my case go to trial?
Most personal injury claims resolve without a trial. Some do not, and a claim should be prepared properly from the start rather than on the assumption that it will settle.
How much does it cost to speak with an Uber accident lawyer?
The consultation is free. The firm works on a contingency fee basis, so there is no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery. Case costs and expenses are explained in your written fee agreement.
Related Pages
California Uber & Lyft accident attorney
The main rideshare practice page.
Read more →
Injured Uber or Lyft driver
If you were the one driving.
Read more →
Hit by an Uber or Lyft driver
Third-party claims, if you were in another vehicle or on foot.
Read more →
Cameron Yadidi Brock
Attorney profile and credentials.
Read more →
Also useful: choosing an attorney for an Uber accident · contact us
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Talk to a California Uber or Lyft Passenger Injury Lawyer
You were the passenger. Working out which driver was responsible, and which insurance answers for it, is our job rather than yours.
No attorney’s fee unless we recover compensation for you. Case costs and expenses are explained in your written fee agreement. UberLawyer.com is the rideshare injury practice of the Law Offices of Burg & Brock, A Professional Law Corporation.
Attorney Advertising. This page provides general information and is not legal advice. Reading this page or contacting the Law Offices of Burg & Brock through UberLawyer.com does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and depends on its own facts and applicable law.
Responsible law firm: Law Offices of Burg & Brock, A Professional Law Corporation. UberLawyer.com is the firm’s dedicated rideshare injury practice, not a separate law firm. California State Bar #183112. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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