Uber & Lyft Accident Attorney in Tallahassee

The three periods

Florida law sets minimum coverage for transportation network companies by app status, and this is the first thing to establish in any rideshare case.

• App off. The driver is a private motorist. Only their personal auto policy applies, at whatever limits they carry.
• App on, waiting for a request. Contingent coverage applies at reduced limits: statutory minimums of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for bodily injury, plus property damage coverage.
• En route to a passenger, or carrying one. Coverage of at least $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury, and property damage applies.

The practical consequence is significant. The same collision can involve a modest personal policy or a million-dollar commercial policy depending on whether the driver had accepted a ride 30 seconds earlier.

Proving app status

Drivers do not always characterize their status accurately, and the rideshare companies control the data that settles the question. Trip records, GPS data, and driver logs establish precisely what the app was doing at the time of impact.

Obtaining that data typically requires formal preservation demands and, where necessary, subpoenas. It is one of the first steps in a rideshare case and one of the most important.

The independent contractor structure

Uber and Lyft classify drivers as independent contractors, which they use to resist direct liability for a driver’s negligence. This is why the mandated insurance coverage, rather than a claim against the company itself, is normally the route to recovery.

There are exceptions. Claims for negligent hiring or retention may be available where a company put a driver on the road it should not have, though these face meaningful legal obstacles.

Whoever you were in the crash

The analysis differs by role. Passengers are rarely at fault and typically have the most straightforward path to the $1,000,000 layer. Other motorists and pedestrians struck by a rideshare driver can access the same coverage if the driver was in an active period. Rideshare drivers themselves occupy the most complicated position, because personal policies commonly exclude commercial use and leave a gap unless the driver purchased a rideshare endorsement.

Florida’s PIP rules still apply throughout, including the 14-day treatment requirement and the injury threshold for pain and suffering damages.

The evidence these claims depend on

Which insurance layer applies turns on the driver’s app status at the moment of the collision, so the trip record itself is central evidence. Driver name, vehicle, and trip details are all visible in the app in the hours afterward and become harder to reach later. An incident reported through the app creates a further record, and photographs of the scene and vehicles fill in the rest.

Florida’s 14-day PIP treatment requirement applies here as in any motor vehicle case. Requests for a recorded statement usually arrive well before any of this is settled, and there is no obligation to give one before speaking with a lawyer.