Helping You Navigate the Legal Process and Maximize Your Compensation

Ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft have become increasingly popular ways to get around Indianapolis and other major cities. There were more than 44 million Uber users in the United States alone as of 2024, and these numbers have been steadily increasing in the past few years. Some people choose to use ridesharing services as a way to get home safely after a night of drinking, while others use it instead of owning their own car. However, this increase in the number of rideshare users and drivers also means that there are more vehicles on the road than ever before. This has created an increase in the overall rate of accidents and increased the percentage of accidents that result in a fatality.

While convenient, these services present unique legal challenges when accidents occur. Unlike traditional car accidents, ridesharing cases can involve multiple parties potentially liable for your injuries, including the rideshare driver, their company, and even other drivers on the road. Additionally, proving negligence can be complex due to the constantly changing nature of a rideshare driver’s employment status throughout their shift.

If you’ve been injured in a ridesharing accident, regardless of whether you were a passenger or another driver, seeking legal representation from an experienced Indianapolis rideshare accident attorney is important. These specialized attorneys have the knowledge and resources to handle the complexities of your case and fight for the full compensation you deserve.

How Do You Prove Fault in Indianapolis Rideshare Accidents?

All rideshare accidents fall under the umbrella of personal injury law. In these cases, to receive compensation for your injuries, you must prove the other party was negligent, meaning their actions or inactions directly caused your harm. This can be particularly challenging in rideshare accidents due to the complexities of determining who was legally responsible at the exact time of the incident. However, the basic tenets of a personal injury claim include the following:

• There was a duty of care. To be able to sue someone, you must be able to prove that there was an established duty of care, which means they had a responsibility to act reasonably and responsibly to avoid causing harm. This is generally easy to establish in rideshare cases, as the driver either had a clear duty of care for their passengers or to other drivers on the road.
• The duty of care was breached. This means that the driver acted in a specific way, either purposefully or through negligence, that put the other person in danger.
• The accident was caused at least in part by the breach of duty of care. This is an important causal connection that must be proven to win a personal injury case. If the person acted negligently, such as running a stop sign, but the accident happened later on for a different reason, it may not meet this criterion.
• The victim suffered financial damages. For a personal injury claim to move forward, there must be economic damages on the part of the plaintiff. These can be related to medical expenses, lost wages, or property damage. If economic damages are present, you can also include noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, but these generally aren’t enough to pursue a lawsuit on their own.

While these elements may seem straightforward, most cases are not as clear-cut. It often takes the legal knowledge and trial experience of a knowledgeable attorney to convince a jury that all of these points apply to your case and that you should be awarded damages.

How Do Modified Comparative Negligence Laws Apply to a Lyft Accident?

Indiana follows a modified comparative fault rule in personal injury cases. This is important to know for accidents that may involve more than one party being at fault or that are especially complex. For example, it’s not common for an accident to be caused by multiple factors. Maybe one driver failed to yield when making a left-hand turn at a traffic light, but the oncoming driver was speeding and looking at their phone. In this case, it might end up that both drivers were partially at fault for the accident. When this happens, the percentage of fault is important.

Modified comparative negligence means that even if you were partially at fault for the accident, you can still recover compensation as long as your percentage of fault doesn’t exceed 50 percent. The insurance company is generally the one that makes this determination. They use evidence, including witness statements, crash-scene photos, and the police report, to assign fault — often using accident reconstruction technology.

Although you can still sue the other driver as long as you were less than 50 percent at fault for the accident, the amount of compensation you receive will be reduced in proportion to your degree of fault. For example, if you sued the other driver for $70,000 in damages and won, but you were 25 percent at fault for the accident, you would only actually get $52,500. If you believe that you may have been partially at fault for an accident, it’s important to discuss this with an attorney, as they can help you understand how this may affect your damages and what legal strategies you can use to maximize your compensation.

It’s important to note that modified comparative negligence is usually only a factor in rideshare accidents where the victim was a driver or passenger in another car. Because the duty of care between a rideshare driver actively working and their passenger is so clear and the passenger is not driving, there is generally no way that the passenger can be found partially at fault for the accident.

How Does Insurance Coverage Work for an Uber or Lyft Driver?

While Uber and Lyft offer liability insurance coverage for their contracted drivers, the extent of coverage depends on the specific circumstances of the accident. If the driver was not logged in to the app at the time of the accident, no coverage is provided by the company. However, coverage of up to $1 million is available if the negligent driver was using the app and had accepted a ride request at the time of the accident.

Additionally, a lesser degree of coverage exists if the driver was logged into the app but had not yet accepted a ride request when the accident occurred. In this scenario, Uber or Lyft will provide liability coverage of up to $50,000 per person and $100,000 total liability per accident, alongside $25,000 for property damage, provided the driver was at fault.

Very few accidents will exceed the $1 million limit in place when the rideshare driver has accepted a ride request, but it’s quite possible for a victim’s damages in a serious car accident to exceed the $50,000 in liability coverage. If your damages exceed the maximum insurance coverage, you have the option of filing a lawsuit against the at-fault party for the uncovered amount.

Keep in mind that ridesharing companies have dedicated teams managing these claims, and they may employ tactics to downplay your injuries. It is better to immediately contact an Indianapolis Uber accident attorney or Indianapolis Lyft accident attorney, such as the team at Wade Injury Lawyers, who understands these tactics and knows how to counter them.

What Kind of Compensation Can You Get After a Rideshare Accident in Indianapolis?

One of the first questions victims have is often related to how much money they may be able to get from a personal injury claim as they see medical bills and other expenses mounting. Victims of ridesharing accidents may be eligible for various types of compensation:

• Medical expenses: Coverage for medical bills related to the accident, such as hospital stays, surgeries, rehabilitation, medications, and ongoing care
• Lost wages: Compensation for income lost due to being unable to work as a result of your injuries
• Pain and suffering: Compensation for the physical and emotional pain caused by the accident
• Property damage: Costs associated with repairing or replacing your vehicle or other damaged property

These are generally broken up into economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages include anything that can be calculated with receipts or financial statements. This includes medical expenses, lost wages, and property damage. The noneconomic damages are pain and suffering. Indiana law does allow victims to ask for compensation related to pain and suffering as part of their lawsuits, and there is no cap on how much can be awarded. However, this is generally reserved for accidents that involve serious injury or death.

Unlike economic damages that are easily verifiable, it’s much more difficult to quantify pain and suffering. Your attorney may recommend going with a flat number or multiplying the amount of the economic damages by a specific factor to determine how much the noneconomic damages should be. How much to multiply by depends on how severe the injuries were, but it generally ranges between 1.5 and 5. For example, if your economic damages totaled $100,000 and you were seriously injured, your attorney may multiply this by a factor of 3 to come up with a number for pain and suffering. However, remember that, ultimately, it’s up to the jury to decide how much to award, and this comes down to how persuasive your case was.

Why Should You Choose Wade Injury Lawyers for Your Indianapolis Ridesharing Accident Claim?

Ridesharing accidents leave victims with physical injuries, emotional distress, and medical bills. They also have to deal with insurance companies and legal matters as they decide whether to pursue a claim through the courts or consider a settlement offer. Tackling these complexities alone can be overwhelming, especially during a time when you should be able to focus on healing and recovery. Wade Injury Lawyers offers a unique combination of experience, skill, and dedication to help you navigate this difficult time.

Proven Experience

When it comes to advocating for rideshare accident victims in a court of law, experience matters. You need an attorney who knows how to successfully present a case and is prepared to do what it takes to fight for your rights and help you get the compensation you deserve. This includes being able to evaluate and negotiate potential settlement offers from the insurance company or taking your case to trial.

At Wade Injury Lawyers, our Indianapolis rideshare attorneys have a proven track record of successfully negotiating with insurance companies. We understand their tactics and know how to advocate on your behalf to ensure a fair settlement. And if a fair settlement isn’t an option, we’re prepared to take your case to court and fight for what you deserve.

Thorough Case Investigation

Determining fault in ridesharing accidents requires meticulous investigation. These accidents are often complex and may involve more than one party or more than one contributing factor. Our team of skilled investigators works to ensure that we have a complete picture of what happened before, during, and after the accident so we can present the strongest case possible.

Our team will gather evidence, including photos and videos of the accident if possible, analyze crash reports, and interview witnesses to build a strong case that clearly establishes the other party’s negligence. In many cases, it only takes one key piece of evidence to convince a jury or get an insurance company to consider a settlement offer, and we work diligently to ensure we uncover anything possible that could help your case.

Focus on Your Recovery

Recovering from a car accident can take weeks and even months or years if there were serious injuries. This is a time when you should be prioritizing your well-being and spending your time and energy on feeling better. While you focus on healing from your injuries, we handle all the legal complexities of your case. We will manage communication with insurance companies, handle paperwork, and represent you in all legal proceedings, giving you the time and mental and emotional energy to focus on yourself and move forward.

Experienced in Ridesharing Law

Our Indianapolis rideshare accident lawyers are well-versed in Indiana’s ridesharing laws and insurance policies. We stay up-to-date on the latest legal developments to ensure we provide the most effective representation for your specific situation. Every accident is different, and your attorney needs to be able to evaluate the case and determine what legal strategies are likely to result in the most favorable outcome.

At Wade Injury Lawyers, we use our years of experience successfully representing victims to help bring your case to a satisfactory resolution. We know how important it is to get the compensation you need to recover financially and how important it is for victims to have closure after these types of incidents. Our attorneys will fight for your rights and work to hold the liable party responsible every step of the way.

Contact Wade Injury Lawyers today for a consultation. We will discuss your case and answer any questions you may have. We are here to help you achieve a successful outcome. Get in touch with one of our rideshare accident attorneys when you call our Indianapolis office at 765-563-4644.