Lafayette Uber Accident Lawyer

The amount changes depending on what the driver was doing, and the numbers are more specific than "Uber's policy kicks in." Under La. R.S. 45:201.6, during the pre-trip acceptance period, meaning the driver is logged into the app and available but has not yet accepted a ride, coverage must be at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage. Once a ride is accepted and the driver is en route to the passenger or actively transporting one, that minimum jumps to $1 million in combined coverage. Knowing which period applies to your crash is often the single biggest factor in how much money is actually available to compensate you.

It can. Louisiana requires the insurance to be carried under La. R.S. 45:201.6 to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to the extent required by La. R.S. 22:1295. That means if the at-fault driver in your crash, whether that is your Uber driver or someone who hit the Uber vehicle, does not carry enough insurance to cover your damages, the rideshare policy's own UM coverage may fill the gap. Your personal auto policy's UM coverage may also apply, depending on how it is written. Sorting out which policies stack and which do not is exactly the kind of coverage analysis our team handles for clients.

It depends on the theory of liability. Uber classifies its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, a classification it has historically used to argue that it is not directly responsible for a driver's on-road negligence. That said, the insurance requirements built into Louisiana law effectively make Uber's own policy the source of payment once a ride is accepted, so in practical terms, you are often pursuing Uber's insurer even when you are not suing Uber the corporation for its own negligence. There are also situations, such as inadequate driver screening or a defect in how the app matched a ride, where a direct claim against Uber itself may be worth exploring.

Yes. You do not have to be riding inside the Uber to have a claim. The insurance tiers described above exist to cover anyone injured by the rideshare vehicle, not just the passenger inside it. If you were walking, biking, or driving another car when an Uber driver hit you, the same question of whether the driver was logged off, waiting for a match, or actively on a trip still determines which policy and which coverage limit applies to your claim.

Uber's insurance coverage does not disappear just because a different driver caused the wreck. If you were riding in an Uber that was actively transporting you, and a third-party driver ran a red light and hit you, Uber's $1 million policy may still apply to help cover your damages, on top of any claim against the at-fault driver's own insurance. This is one of the more counterintuitive parts of rideshare accident law, and it is a major reason these cases often involve two or three insurance companies at once.

A hit-and-run does not mean you are out of options. If the fleeing driver cannot be identified, uninsured motorist coverage, whether through Uber's policy, your own auto policy, or both, typically treats an unidentified driver the same way it treats a known driver with no insurance. Reporting the accident immediately and gathering whatever evidence you can, including dashcam footage, witness accounts, and the police report, gives your attorney the strongest foundation for that UM claim.

App data showing a driver's login status, trip acceptance time, and GPS location is often the most important piece of evidence in a rideshare case, as it determines which insurance tier applies. But that data lives with Uber, not with you, and it does not always match the driver's own account of events. Requesting and preserving this data quickly after a crash matters because it can be the difference between a $25,000 claim and a $1 million one. This is exactly the kind of evidence our team moves fast to secure before it can be disputed or lost.