Rideshare Liability – Who Pays?

The Lento Law Group, P.C. • February 10, 2021

Snow is falling and Punxsutawney Phil is already predicting six more weeks of Winter. Understandably then, people may be hesitant to take to the roads for fear of accident-causing patches of black ice. If you don’t feel confident to drive in icy conditions, you may – like millions of Americans – turn to a rideshare app like Uber or Lyft to get around.

Rideshare services have become a booming business. In fact, in 2019, an estimated 6.9 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) customer trips were completed by Uber alone, according to statistics compiled by app analytics reporter Business of Apps. While ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft have grown in popularity across the country and across the world in recent years, it’s no surprise that so too has grown the number of lawsuits arising from motor vehicle accidents occurring during a rideshare situation.

This rise in rideshare accidents and the resulting influx of potential plaintiffs stemming therefrom has brought to the attention of the legal community a similar influx of questions from potential rideshare plaintiffs regarding liability when a rideshare accident occurs. Just who pays?

Put simply, rideshare accidents can be complicated and highly fact-specific, in that, depending on the precise factual circumstances in a given rideshare accident, liability can change dramatically. Additionally, ridesharing drivers – typically independent contractors – are not generally considered employees of the company for whom they are driving. Thus, companies like Uber and Lyft do not necessarily have legal responsibility for their drivers and are not necessarily liable for accidents caused by such drivers. However, in light of ongoing litigation in various states, specifically in California, a rideshare driver’s status as an independent contractor versus an employee is a legal issue still in flux in many places.

Even so, most major ridesharing companies nonetheless perform driver safety education, driver background checks, and motor vehicle checks for both the safety of the consumer and as due diligence to mitigate potential liability.

Importantly, insofar as liability of the rideshare company is concerned, similar to the commercial carrier insurance required for most taxi services, both Uber and Lyft carry liability insurance coverage of up to $1 million, but generally the policy has some limitations as to when it applies and to whom it covers.

Specifically, on its website, Uber outlines three different factual scenarios effecting coverage:

OFFLINE – When an Uber driver has the app turned off and is driving their car for personal use.

Obviously, in this circumstance, there is no passenger, so this situation speaks only to the insurance coverage of the driver. Since the Uber driver is not driving for Uber at this time, and is instead driving for themselves, they are not covered by the insurance Uber maintains for their partnered drivers. Therefore, as in any traditional auto accident, accidents involving your vehicle which occur while not utilizing the Uber platform are covered by your personal auto insurance coverage.

APP ON – Uber driver has the app enabled and is waiting for a rideshare request

While an Uber driver is online with the applicable and is awaiting a rideshare request to accept, but before such a request is actually accepted, they are covered for their liability to third parties if they are in an accident and at-fault. Coverage includes liability to pay another person’s medical bills or to pay for property damage (like damage to the other vehicle).

Coverage Limits in these situations vary by state, but are at least:

$50,000 per person/$100,000 per accident for bodily injury
$25,000 per accident for property damage

If you were struck by a rideshare driver, you may be able to make a claim against Uber’s third-party liability insurance, in addition to your personal insurance policy covering your medical expenses through your plan’s Personal Injury Protection (PIP) provision.

RIDESHARE REQUEST ACCEPTED AND ON TRIP - On your way to pick up a rider and during a trip

After an Uber driver has accepted a rideshare request, Uber maintains coverage for three things:

Third-Party Liability Coverage of at least $1,000,000 per accident.
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) Bodily Injury Coverage for the Uber driver and any passengers in the vehicle. This also covers hit and run accidents where the at-fault driver cannot be identified. Coverage limits vary by state, but are at least $1,000,000 per accident.
Contingent Collision and Comprehensive Coverage up to the actual cash value of your vehicle as the Uber driver. There is a $1,000 deductible.

Lyft follows a similar three-tier insurance coverage plan for their drivers as well.

While this information is clearly useful for the driver, but what of the passenger or third-parties? Given this information, if you are riding in a rideshare vehicle en route during your booked trip, or if you are a third-party who was hit by a ridesharing vehicle that was actively in service at that time – in other words, that the rideshare app was enabled and the driver was awaiting a rideshare request or actively on a trip – you should be covered by the company’s policy.

If, however, you are hurt in a collision with a rideshare vehicle, but one that is not actively logged into the application – essentially, “off the clock” – that driver’s personal insurance company should be responsible, but be warned: it is not uncommon for personal auto insurers of vehicles used for rideshare to initially deny claims until such time as they are made aware that the rideshare driver was not driving in their rideshare capacity. Again, this is why these types of cases are very fact specific.

An additional complication can arise if the rideshare company itself declines to cover a third-party claim caused by an active rideshare driver, citing their status as an independent contractor. They may attempt to push off the claim to the rideshare driver’s personal auto carrier. However, many personal auto carriers have policies which exclude coverage if the driver was acting for profit at the time of the accident.

As you can see, then, sorting out liability and which insurance company or individual is responsible for covering your claims can be a very tedious task. Therefore, if you ever find yourself in such a situation, and are the victim of a rideshare accident, having been injured as a passenger in a rideshare vehicle that was involved in an accident, or as a third-party who was hit by a vehicle being actively used for rideshare purposes, it is strongly recommended that you contact the Lento Law Group today. Our team of experienced and dedicated attorneys will fight to ensure you receive the financial compensation you deserve!

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The Education Department is opening fewer sexual violence investigations as Trump dismantles it

January 17, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before President Donald Trump’s administration started dismantling the Education Department, the agency served as a powerful enforcer in cases of sexual violence at schools and universities. It brought the weight of the government against schools that mishandled sexual assault complaints involving students. That work is quickly fading away. The department’s Office for Civil Rights was gutted in Trump’s mass layoffs last year, leaving half as many lawyers to investigate complaints of discrimination based on race, sex or disability in schools. Those who remain face a backlog of more than 25,000 cases. Investigations have dwindled. Before the layoffs last March, the office opened dozens of sexual violence investigations a year. Since then, it’s opened fewer than 10 nationwide, according to internal data obtained by The Associated Press. Yet Trump’s Republican administration has doubled down on sexual discrimination cases of another kind. Trump officials have used Title IX, a 1972 gender equality law, against schools that make accommodations for transgender students and athletes. The Office for Civil Rights has opened nearly 50 such investigations since Trump took office a year ago. Even before the layoffs, critics said the office was understaffed and moved too slowly. Now, many firms that handle Title IX cases have stopped filing complaints, calling it a dead end. “It almost feels like you’re up against the void,” said Katie McKay, a lawyer at the New York firm C.A. Goldberg. “It feels like a big question mark right now,” she said. “How are we supposed to hold a school accountable once it has messed up?” An Education Department spokesperson said the office is working through its caseload, blaming President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration for leaving a backlog and rewriting Title IX rules to protect LGBTQ+ students. Trump officials rolled back those rules. “The Trump Administration has restored commonsense safeguards against sexual violence by returning sex-based separation in intimate facilities,” spokesperson Julie Hartman said. “OCR is and will continue to safeguard the dignity and safety of our nation’s students.” Students have few other places to turn The layoffs have slowed work at the Office for Civil Rights across the board, but it has an outsize impact on cases of sexual violence. Students who are mistreated by their schools — including victims and accused students alike — have few other venues to pursue justice. Many are now left with two options: File a lawsuit or walk away. One woman said she’s losing hope for a complaint she filed in 2024. She alleges her graduate school failed to follow its own policies when it suspended but didn’t expel another student found by the school to have sexually assaulted her. No one has contacted her about the complaint since 2024. The woman recently sued her school as a last resort. She said it feels like a David and Goliath mismatch. “They have all the power, because there is no large organization holding them accountable. It’s just me, just this one individual who’s filing this simple suit,” the woman said. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. The civil rights office is supposed to provide a free alternative to litigation. Anyone can file a complaint, which can trigger an investigation and sanctions for schools that violate federal law. In 2024, the agency received more than 1,000 complaints involving sexual violence or sexual harassment, according to an annual report. It’s unclear how many complaints have been filed more recently. Trump’s administration has not reported newer figures. In conversations with the AP, some staffers said cases are piling up so quickly they can’t track how many involve sexual violence. In December, the department acknowledged the civil rights backlog and announced dozens of downsized workers would be brought back to the office amid a legal challenge to their layoffs. The workers’ return offers some hope to those with pending civil rights complaints. Department officials have vowed to keep pushing for the layoffs. Historically, the feds have held schools and colleges accountable Before Trump was elected to his second term, the office had more than 300 pending investigations involving sexual assault, according to a public database. Most of those cases are believed to be sitting idle as investigators prioritize easier complaints, according to staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. The details of past cases underscore the urgency of the work. In 2024, the office took action against a Pennsylvania school system after a girl with a disability told staff she had been sexually touched by a bus driver. She was put back on that driver’s bus later that afternoon, plus the next two days. The district was required to designate a Title IX coordinator for its schools, review previous complaints and consider compensation for the girl’s family. That year, the office demanded changes at a Montana school where a boy was pinned down by other students and assaulted after a wrestling practice. The students had been suspended for three days after school officials treated it as a case of hazing instead of sexual assault. In another case, the office sided with a University of Notre Dame student who had been expelled over accusations of sexual misconduct. The student said the college never told him precisely what he was accused of and refused to interview witnesses he put forward. Cases that get attention from the federal office are being handled under federal rules created during Trump’s first term. Those rules were designed to bolster the rights of students accused of sexual misconduct. Lawyers who work with accused students see little improvement. Justin Dillon, a Washington lawyer, said some of his recent complaints have been opened for investigation. He tells clients not to hold their breath. Even before the layoffs, cases could drag on for years, he said. Others gave up on the office years ago. The LLF National Law Firm said it stopped filing complaints in 2021 in favor of suing schools directly. Lawyers at the firm said the office had become incapable of delivering timely outcomes, which was only worsened by the layoffs. Complaints can be resolved several ways. They can be dismissed if they don’t pass legal muster. Many go to mediation, akin to a settlement. Some end in voluntary agreements from schools, with plans to rectify past wrongs and prevent future ones. In 2024, under Biden, the office secured 23 voluntary agreements from schools and colleges in cases involving sexual violence, according to a public database. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, there were 58. Since Trump took office again last year, there have been none. The dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights comes as a blow to Laura Dunn, a civil rights lawyer who was influential in getting President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration to make campus sexual assault a priority. As the issue gained public attention, the office started fielding hundreds of complaints a year. “All the progress survivors have made by sharing their story is being lost,” said Dunn, who’s now a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York. “We are literally losing civil rights progress in the United States, and it’s pushing us back more than 50 years.” ___ The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

What the Next Artificial Intelligence Phase Means for School Discipline

By By: Joseph D. Lento September 8, 2025 • September 12, 2025

Artificial intelligence continues to make big changes on school campuses at all levels nationwide. Students have already learned how helpful AI tools can be for studies. Yet students have also experienced a frightening wave of school academic misconduct charges alleging misuse of those AI tools. LLG National Law Group’s premier attorneys have rallied to the defense of students accused of AI misuse, defending and defeating school misconduct charges for students at all levels nationwide. But the latest wave of AI chatbot tools threatens to once again transform the school misconduct landscape. Call 833.536.8652 now to retain the LLG National Law Group’s highly qualified attorneys if you face artificial intelligence issues with your school. Student Use of AI Tools in School To this point, students have used ChatGPT and other general artificial intelligence tools, and similar tools designed more specifically for education, to aid their studies. Students have used general AI tools to propose paper topics, suggest paper organization, flag spelling and grammar errors, and suggest improvements in writing. Students have also used general AI tools to correct problem answers, explain subjects more thoroughly, and for similar traditional study purposes. These uses of AI have made studies more efficient and productive, speeding learning. Chat Bots as the Next Phase of School AI Tools Artificial intelligence chatbots, though, are further accelerating the pace of technological change in schools. Students are now able to use platforms like Schoolhub.ai to create their own individual AI-powered chatbot as a personal study assistant, tailored to their specific needs and school program. Getting ready for school once meant buying notebooks and pencils. It later meant buying a laptop computer or tablet. Today, preparing for school may mean creating and training your own chatbot as a personal study assistant. The Discipline Risk of Chat Bots Teachers, professors, departments, and schools have all been slow in developing and publishing policies on student use of AI tools. That delay led to a first wave of student academic misconduct charges for misusing readily available, greatly helpful, and widely used AI tools. Our attorneys have been busy turning back that first wave of AI misuse charges. The new AI-powered chatbots, though, don’t just write assigned papers or answer exam problems, as specifically prohibited by many school policies. The AI chatbots are instead active student study partners, more like a human tutor than a computer program or other digital tool. Schools need to quickly modify their AI policies to help students take due advantage of these powerful new learning tools, rather than to punish students for getting the help they need. Premier Student AI Misconduct Defense Available Retain the LLG National Law Group’s premier attorneys if you are a student facing AI misconduct charges in a school disciplinary proceeding. Our attorneys are ready to help you defend your AI chatbot use or other use of AI tools. We help hundreds of students nationwide defend and defeat student code of conduct charges of all kinds. Call 833.536.8652 now for the representation you need for your best possible student discipline outcome.