Uber and Lyft Accident Lawyers in Marietta
Rideshare coverage changes depending on whether the driver was offline, waiting for a request, on the way to a pickup, or carrying a passenger — and the difference between those states can be the difference between a state-minimum policy and a seven-figure one. The app data that settles the question belongs to a company that is not a party yet. We identify the coverage period first, in writing, before the case gets built around the wrong policy.
What we do on these cases
- We establish the driver's app state at the moment of impact and get it confirmed in writing, because every other decision in the case follows from which coverage period applies.
- We put the platform on notice for the trip data early. Ride records, GPS traces and the driver's status log sit with a company that is not yet a defendant and has no obligation to volunteer anything.
- We check the driver's personal policy as well as the platform's. Personal auto policies commonly exclude commercial use, and a denial arriving four months in is a much worse surprise than one anticipated in week one.
- We treat passengers differently from other claimants. A passenger in a rideshare vehicle is almost never at fault, which changes the shape of the case entirely and usually makes the coverage question the only real question.
What the insurer is doing while you wait
The first move in a rideshare case is usually a coverage position rather than a liability position. The platform's insurer takes the view that the driver was in a different app state than the claimant believes, or the driver's personal insurer denies on the commercial-use exclusion, and the claim sits between two carriers each pointing at the other. Neither is obliged to hurry.
The information that resolves it is entirely in the platform's systems, and the platform is not a party. That is the structural problem with these cases: the fact that decides the value of the claim is held by a company with no stake in the outcome and a general policy of responding to formal process rather than to letters.
What it costs
There is no fee to talk to us and no fee unless we win. In rideshare cases we usually know within a few weeks whether the coverage position makes the claim worth pursuing, and we tell you then.
“No fee unless we win” refers only to the attorney's fee — court costs and other expenses of legal action usually must be paid by the client, and contingent fees are not permitted in all types of cases.
Results in this area
- $$$Passenger injured during an active tripConfidential settlement · 2023
- $650,000Collision while the driver was en route to a pickupSettlement · 2025
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different, and the value of any case depends on facts that are specific to it.
Questions we get about these cases
Does Uber's insurance cover me?
It depends on what the driver's app was doing at the moment of the crash, and the tiers are genuinely far apart. A driver who is logged off is on their personal policy. A driver logged in and waiting for a request sits in a limited contingent tier. A driver en route to a pickup or carrying a passenger sits in the high-limit commercial tier. Establishing which of those applied is the first thing we do, and until it is established nothing else about the case can be assessed.
Does it matter whether the driver had a passenger?
Materially. Once a driver has accepted a request, the platform's high-limit commercial coverage is generally engaged, and it stays engaged through the drop-off. Before acceptance, the available coverage is much thinner. That single fact often moves the realistic value of an identical injury by an order of magnitude, which is why the app state is worth establishing carefully rather than assuming.
Do I sue the driver or the company?
Usually the driver, with the platform's insurer providing the coverage — the platforms classify drivers as independent contractors and resist direct liability. That is a fight worth having in some cases and not in most, and it is a different question from whose policy pays. What matters practically is getting the right insurer on the claim early, with the trip data to support it.
Tell us what happened.
Three steps, about two minutes. A lawyer reads every one of these.