Long Island Uber & Lyft Accident Attorney

In a rideshare case, the first question is not who was at fault. It is what the driver's app was doing at the moment of the crash. A driver logged in and waiting for a request is covered very differently from one who has accepted a trip, and the gap between those two states is the single biggest factor in what insurance exists to pay a claim.

Attorney Jordan Stern handles your case personally, from the first call through the resolution. He has represented injured New Yorkers for over 30 years, across Nassau and Suffolk County, from the firm's office in Freeport.

Free consultation. No fee unless we recover money for you.

How much insurance is actually available?

New York sets the required coverage by period. (VTL Article 44-B)

App off. The driver is not working, and their ordinary personal auto policy applies as it would to any other driver.

App on, waiting for a ride request. The policy must provide at least $75,000 for injury to or death of one person, $150,000 where two or more people are hurt or killed, and $25,000 for property damage, along with uninsured motorist and no-fault coverage.

This middle period is where coverage disputes cluster. Most personal auto policies exclude driving for hire, so a driver who was logged on without proper rideshare coverage can end up with a personal insurer denying the claim and a platform arguing the trip had not started. Sorting out who is actually on the risk is part of the work.

Engaged in a trip — from accepting the request, through the pickup, until the passenger gets out. Here New York requires two separate $1.25 million coverages: at least $1,250,000 in liability coverage, and a further $1,250,000 in supplemental uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. They are distinct, and they respond to different situations.

The gap between the second tier and the third is enormous, and it turns on something no one at the scene thinks to record. Which is why the single most useful thing a passenger can do is screenshot the trip in the app — the receipt, the driver's name, the vehicle, the trip ID, the timestamps — before it scrolls out of history.

Does it matter that the crash happened on Long Island?

Considerably. New York does not have one rideshare rule; it has two.

Trips outside New York City fall under Article 44-B, with the limits above. Inside the five boroughs, vehicles are regulated instead by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, where the required liability coverage is substantially lower and supplementary uninsured motorist coverage is not mandated at all. Platforms sometimes carry more than the city requires, but what is required is what you can count on.

So the same collision, with the same injuries, can have very different money behind it depending on which side of the Queens line it happened. For a Nassau or Suffolk trip, the Article 44-B limits are a significant advantage — and for a trip that began out here and ended in the city, which is a common Long Island pattern, it is worth establishing carefully where things actually occurred.

What if the driver who hit us had no insurance?

This is where rideshare occupants are better protected than almost anyone else on the road.

The $1.25 million SUM coverage required during an accepted trip exists for exactly this situation: the at-fault driver was uninsured, fled, or carried a minimum policy that comes nowhere near the injuries. It is separate from the liability coverage, and it can become the claim.

Most people have no idea it exists, and no adjuster is going to volunteer it. How it responds in a given case depends on the facts and the policy language, and more than one person injured in the same crash may have a claim on it.

Who pays my medical bills?

No-fault, as in any New York motor vehicle claim. If you were riding in the rideshare vehicle, the claim generally goes to the insurer of that vehicle — the one you were in — and the application is due within 30 days. If you were struck as a pedestrian or cyclist, it goes to the insurer of the vehicle that hit you.

Recovering for pain and suffering is a separate matter and requires meeting New York's serious injury threshold. (Insurance Law § 5102(d)) Rideshare claims are motor vehicle claims under Article 51, so the 2026 changes apply here too — the threshold tightened, one category was removed, and a claimant whose share of the fault exceeds that of the party sued — or, where more than one is sued, their combined share — now recovers nothing from that party — not pain and suffering, and not economic losses beyond what no-fault covers. No-fault benefits themselves are unaffected.

For a passenger this rarely matters, since passengers are almost never at fault. For a rideshare driver, or another motorist involved, it matters a great deal.

What if they say the driver was an independent contractor?

Expect this, and do not treat it as the end of the conversation.

The companies contest employment status vigorously, and that argument can affect certain theories of liability against the platform itself. What it does not do is remove the coverage that Article 44-B requires to be in force during the relevant period. That insurance exists because the statute requires it, regardless of how the driver's relationship with the company is characterized.

How long do I have?

Three years for most claims, two years for a wrongful death claim. If a government vehicle was involved in the collision, a notice of claim may be due within 90 days.

Common questions

Speak with Jordan Stern

Injured in a rideshare crash anywhere on Long Island? The consultation is free and the conversation is confidential.

Stern & Stern · 49 West Merrick Road, Freeport, NY 11520
516-634-0345 · jstern@jordansternlaw.com · Se habla español

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