Passenger Injury Claim: Your Rights When Someone Else Was Driving

Can a passenger file an injury claim in Pennsylvania?

Yes. An injured passenger can claim against any driver whose carelessness caused the crash, including the driver of the car they were riding in, the driver of the other car, or both. Your medical bills are first paid by first-party benefits under a set order of policies, and pain and suffering depends on which tort option binds you.

Because passengers usually did nothing to cause the crash, fault is often the easy part. The work is finding every policy that applies and claiming against each in the right order.

Which policy pays your medical bills first

Pennsylvania sets the priority for first-party benefits in 75 Pa.C.S. § 1713. The order is:

• Your own policy, if you are a named insured on one.
• A policy covering you as an insured, which generally means a spouse or relative you live with, or a parent's policy for a minor in their custody.
• If neither applies, the policy on the car you were riding in.
• For someone who was not in a vehicle, the policy on a vehicle involved in the crash.

What that order means in real life

Many passengers are surprised that their own policy pays first even though they were not driving. If you own a car and insure it, your policy's medical benefits cover you as a passenger in a friend's car. If you do not own a car but live with a parent or spouse who does, their policy may cover you. Only if you have no household policy at all does the policy on the car you were riding in step in.

Every Pennsylvania auto policy must carry at least $5,000 in medical benefits (75 Pa.C.S. § 1711), and many carry more. When two policies of equal priority apply, the first insurer you claim against pays and then seeks a share from the other (§ 1713(b)). You should not be left waiting while insurers argue.

Your tort option as a passenger

If you are a named insured, you are bound by the tort option on your own policy. If you are covered as a household member, the named insured's choice generally applies to you (75 Pa.C.S. § 1705(b)(2)). If you do not own a registered car and are not a named insured or insured under any policy, the limited tort bar does not apply to you at all, and you keep the right to sue for pain and suffering (§ 1705(b)(3)).

One more rule matters to passengers in particular. A person bound by limited tort keeps full tort rights if injured while riding in a vehicle other than a private passenger vehicle (§ 1705(d)(3)). Passengers in a work van, a shuttle, a commercial vehicle or a bus fall into this group.

Claims against more than one driver

When two cars collide, both drivers may share the blame. As a passenger, you can claim against the liability coverage of each driver who was at fault. That can matter when one driver carries only Pennsylvania's minimum liability limits.

If the at-fault coverage is not enough, underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is next. Where more than one UM or UIM policy applies, § 1733 puts the policy on the vehicle you occupied first, followed by a policy on a vehicle not involved in the crash under which you are an insured, such as your own. Stacking and signed waivers can change the available limits.

When the driver is a friend or family member

Many passengers hesitate to claim because the driver is a spouse, parent, coworker or friend. The claim is paid by that driver's insurance company, which is what the coverage is for. In practice you are not taking money from the person, and a claim does not require you to blame them in conversation.

Tell us if you were riding with someone who had been drinking. It does not automatically end your claim, but the insurer will raise it, and a DUI conviction or ARD for the driver can affect tort rights under § 1705(d).

Rides home from 69th Street and across the county

We hear from passengers hurt in carpools on I-476, in rides home from the 69th Street Transportation Center, and in friends' cars on Garrett Road and Lansdowne Avenue. Children are often passengers, and for an injured child the two-year lawsuit deadline (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524) is generally paused until the child turns 18. Adults should act far sooner.

Warren I. Siegel, a Pennsylvania lawyer since 1992, collects every policy in the picture, including household policies you may not know apply, and files the claims in the right order. The fee is 100% contingency: no attorney fee unless we recover, all case costs advanced by the firm and repaid only from a recovery. Call (267) 412-4601 or send the free case review form.