Can You Sue Uber or Lyft After a Rideshare Car Accident?

This video features Aaron Allison, an Employment and Labor Law attorney based in Texas.

Attorney Aaron Allison | 888-300-1476 | Free Consult

If you’ve been hurt in a car accident involving a rideshare vehicle, can you sue Uber or Lyft for damages?

Aaron Allison is an attorney at The Law Offices of Aaron Allison in Austin, TX. In this Quick Question, he explains that you cannot sue those companies because the drivers are not technically employees of the companies. They are independent contractors.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 888-300-1476 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Rideshare drivers are independent contractors, therefore the rideshare company cannot be sued in case of an accident.

If you frequently find yourself utilizing rideshare services, it might be important to note that the drivers who work for these companies are not technically employees but independent contractors. This means that everything from training to car maintenance to driving skill is up to the driver themselves to maintain and monitor, and that the rideshare company is not responsible for supervising or enforcing these elements of a driver’s service.

For this reason, these drivers are encouraged to purchase their own insurance as independent drivers; this insurance can protect both the drivers and their passengers in case of an accident occurring in a rideshare vehicle. As independent contractors, the drivers are responsible for their own safety as well as that of their passengers.

Some of these companies may require their independent contractors to use vehicles that pass certain inspections and require them to have a valid drivers’ license, but these are generally the only requirements a driver must meet before beginning to use one of these rideshare systems to find clients.

A rideshare service like Uber or Lyft cannot be held legally responsible for the negligence of one of their drivers.

While at first glance it might seem likely that a big rideshare company like Uber or Lyft could be held legally responsible for the action of their drivers, but this is not true. Due to the status of their drivers as independent contractors, these rideshare companies are not even remotely involved in the day to day operations of the vehicles driving their clients.

It may help to understand that what these rideshare companies are actually providing is not a method of transportation for their clients, but a system in which drivers who wish to earn money by transporting passengers to and fro can utilize. This removes liability from the system and places it back on the drivers.

If you or a loved one were injured in an accident involving a rideshare vehicle, contact a car accident attorney to learn more about your situation and how to seek compensation from the parties that are actually liable. It may help to note that most car accident attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, which means you won’t be required to pay for their services unless/until they win your case.

To learn more, contact Aaron Allison directly by calling 888-300-1476 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Video Transcript:

Leslie Rhode:

If you're hit by a rideshare vehicle, can you sue the company? For this AskTheLawyers.com Quick Question, we ask Texas attorney Aaron Allison.

Aaron Allison:

No, because Uber would say that the driver of an Uber vehicle is an independent contractor, that they had no control of the day-to-day operation of that vehicle or over that driver. That driver for Uber or Lyft is not an employee of Uber. They're an independent contractor utilizing the system that Uber provides and Lyft provides, so no. If an Uber driver was negligent in causing an accident, you would not bring a claim against Uber itself because they're not the employer. The Uber driver is an independent contractor.

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