Rideshare Passenger Injury Lawyer: Your Rights When You Were Riding in the Uber or Lyft

Can a passenger sue after an Uber or Lyft crash?

Yes. A passenger can bring a claim against the rideshare driver, the driver of any other vehicle that caused the crash, or both, and the prearranged-ride coverage required by Pennsylvania law applies to your trip: at least $500,000 in primary liability coverage plus first-party medical benefits that include $25,000 for passengers (66 Pa.C.S. § 2603.1(a)(3)).

Passengers are almost never assigned fault. That usually shifts the fight away from whether you can recover and toward how much, which depends on your injuries, your own insurance and how many people are claiming against the same coverage.

Who pays your medical bills first

Pennsylvania uses an order of priority for first-party medical benefits. You look first to a policy on which you are the named insured, then to a policy covering you as a resident relative in your household, and only then to the policy on the vehicle you were riding in (75 Pa.C.S. § 1713).

In practice, that means:

• If you own a car and insure it in Pennsylvania, your own auto policy usually pays your medical bills first, up to its first-party limit.
• If you do not own a car but live with a relative who does, that relative's policy may pay first.
• If there is no auto policy in your household, the coverage on the rideshare vehicle, including the $25,000 passenger medical benefit required during a trip, is the likely source.

Which driver's liability coverage pays the rest

Medical benefits cover bills. Pain and suffering, lost income beyond first-party benefits and future care come from a liability claim. If your rideshare driver caused the crash, the trip's liability coverage responds. If another motorist ran a light on Township Line Road and hit your ride, that motorist's insurer is the primary target, and the rideshare coverage matters if the other driver's limits run out or the fault is shared.

Keep in mind that the $500,000 trip minimum is written as a single amount for death, bodily injury and property damage (66 Pa.C.S. § 2603.1(a)(3)(i)). When several passengers are hurt in one ride, they may all be drawing on the same limit, which is one reason to act early.

Your tort option still matters

Many Pennsylvania drivers chose limited tort to lower premiums, which generally restricts pain-and-suffering damages unless the injury is serious (75 Pa.C.S. § 1705). Passengers in a rideshare may have an argument that limited tort does not apply, because the statute preserves full tort rights for people injured as occupants of a vehicle other than a private passenger motor vehicle, and a car used as a public or livery conveyance falls outside that definition (75 Pa.C.S. § 1702). Courts decide how that applies to a specific Uber or Lyft trip, so do not accept an adjuster's statement that limited tort ends your claim.

Steps that protect a passenger claim

A few habits in the first days make a passenger claim much easier to prove:

• Save your trip receipt and ride history from the app before anything changes.
• Get the names of other passengers in the car. Their claims can affect yours.
• Tell police and your doctors that you were a paying rideshare passenger.
• Do not agree that you were unhurt at the scene. Neck, back and head injuries often appear later.
• Remember that Pennsylvania bars rideshare companies and drivers from requiring passengers to waive liability for injuries, including through app terms (66 Pa.C.S. § 2603.1(c)).

Deadlines and getting help

Rideshare pickups are constant at the 69th Street Transportation Center and across West Philadelphia neighborhoods like Overbrook and Kingsessing. Warren I. Siegel, Esq. handles passenger claims from our Upper Darby office. Most suits must be filed within 2 years (42 Pa.C.S. § 5524). We work on 100% contingency: no attorney fee unless we recover, and all case costs are advanced by the firm and repaid only from a recovery. Call (267) 412-4601 or send the free case review form.