Pursuing Legal Action Against Uber and Lyft for Personal Injuries in Florida

If the Uber driver is not at fault, let’s say for example that your rideshare vehicle is rear-ended at a stop light–then the person who rear-ended you would be responsible to compensate you.  Your UBER vehicle may have additional insurance coverage to compensate you as well. 

Under Florida law, assuming you own a car that has the minimum required Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance, your own PIP will cover your initial medical and lost wages after your deductible is met.  However, your remaining damages for pain and suffering in the past and future, and future medical expense and lost wages will be the responsibility of the driver who causes your accident. 

In other words, Florida, Uber and/or Lyft passengers who own a car but who are hurt in an Uber accident can and must still use their own Personal Injury Protection insurance to pay for the first $10,000 of their medical bills and lost wages. This is true regardless of whether the Uber driver is at fault in any part for the collision. 

However, being responsible and having insurance to pay for the damage are two entirely different considerations–especially in South Florida, where we have found most drivers either have no insurance or carry inadequate coverage to pay for the damages they both cause and receive.  This is very common, which is why we always recommend that people purchase uninsured motorist coverage.  

We also understand that if you are traveling by UBER or LYFT or another ride sharing platform, you may not own a car at all, or live with a family member that owns a car.  Then it will be the responsibility of the rideshare insurance to cover your medical expenses and personal injury damages. 

Florida law still requires that people in motor vehicle accidents prove they have sustained a permanent injury in order to be entitled to receive money for pain and suffering. 

However, if both fault and a permanent injury can be proved, the at-fault driver is potentially responsible to pay you money for the following:

• Past and future physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and physical impairment;
• Past and future medical, hospital, rehabilitation, disability, and other health care-related expenses;
• Past economic losses including lost wages, salary or income, and property damage;
• Loss of future income due to any long-term disability and permanent diminished earnings capacity;
• Punitive damages (for outrageous wrongful conduct, if intoxicated, etc.); and
• Wrongful death and net accumulations when the lawsuit is brought by the family of a loved one who died in an UBER of LYFT accident. 

IF UBER DRIVER IS AT FAULT

If your Uber driver causes an accident while you are his or her passenger, or if you are in an accident caused by an Uber driver, you can sue both the driver and Uber or Lyft. Of course, you must first prove the accident was the Uber driver’s fault (or at least partially so) and that you have suffered an injury.  

Suing is one thing, but collecting is something different. Several states, like California, have passed legislation requiring ride-share drivers to maintain bodily injury coverage of $1 million.  

Like UBER, LYFT has very specific mandatory insurance available for their drivers that varies from when they are waiting for a call, enroute to pick up a passenger or actually transporting a passenger.