Rideshare Accident Lawyer in New York

It depends on which TNC period the driver was in. Period 0 (app off) — the driver's personal auto policy applies. Period 1 (app on, awaiting a ride) — under NY VTL § 1693, the TNC provides $75,000 per person / $150,000 per accident bodily injury contingent coverage. Period 2 (en route to pick up a passenger) and Period 3 (passenger in the car) — the TNC provides $1,500,000 combined single limit commercial coverage. New York's $1.5M Period 2/3 floor is substantially higher than the $1M floor in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania, and is tied with Minnesota and New Jersey for the highest mandatory Period 2/3 minimum in the country. Establishing the period requires trip data screenshots from the rider's app.

NYC rideshare drivers must hold a NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) for-hire vehicle license, and the vehicles must be TLC-registered under NYC Admin. Code Title 19, Chapter 5. This is a separate regulatory layer on top of the statewide NY VTL Article 44-B framework that governs the rest of New York. In a NYC case, a local attorney can subpoena both the Uber/Lyft corporate trip data AND the TLC's licensing, vehicle inspection, and driver safety records — discoverable evidence that an upstate case would not generate. The TLC framework also imposes higher driver and vehicle standards, which can support direct claims against the TNC for negligent screening.

The driver is the primary defendant. Uber and Lyft are protected from direct vicarious liability in most cases because TNC drivers are statutorily classified as independent contractors under NY VTL Article 44-B. But the TNC's commercial insurance policy (the $1,500,000 Period 2/3 coverage under VTL § 1693) responds to the driver's negligence, so the practical recovery path runs through that policy. Direct claims against Uber or Lyft for negligent hiring or screening are sometimes possible — particularly in NYC TLC cases where the regulatory framework imposes additional driver-vetting duties — but they are usually denied at the pleading stage and the commercial policy remains the practical recovery source.

Top priority: screenshots from the Uber or Lyft app — the trip receipt, timestamp, in-app GPS route, driver profile, and any in-app messages. These establish which TNC insurance period applied. Also: the police report, dashcam footage, witness contact information, photographs from the scene, and the driver's name and TNC license information. Send a corporate preservation letter to Uber Technologies, Inc. or Lyft, Inc. within days, requesting trip data, internal incident reports, vehicle inspection records, and driver safety records. In NYC, also request the TLC's for-hire vehicle inspection and driver licensing file.