Uber accident lawyer in Houston for riders, drivers and others hurt in rideshare crashes

A crash involving an Uber or Lyft car can involve more people and more insurance policies than an ordinary wreck. Whether you were the rider, the rideshare driver or someone in another car, the questions are the same: what happened, who was at fault, and which policies answer for your injuries.

This page is from LAWBOSS – Harris, Nelsen & Uvalle, PLLC, the firm behind Car Wreck Lawyers Houston, with its Houston office at 5300 Memorial Dr. The attorney responsible for this site is Jonathan Harris, Board Certified, Personal Injury Trial Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization. We are not affiliated with Uber, Lyft or any rideshare company; we represent people hurt in crashes.

Who we help after a rideshare crash

• Passengers hurt while riding in an Uber or Lyft.
• Rideshare drivers hurt by another driver while working.
• Other drivers and passengers hit by a car that was driving for a rideshare app.
• People walking or biking who were hit by a rideshare car.

Each of these claims starts from the same place: evidence of how the crash happened and who caused it. What makes rideshare claims different is the number of people and companies whose records matter.

Why rideshare claims need more records

Rideshare companies keep detailed digital records of every trip: when the driver went online, when a request was accepted, the route and the drop-off. Those records do not stay available forever, and the people who hold them are not on your side. We ask that they be preserved as soon as we are hired.

In an ordinary crash there are usually two drivers and their insurers. In a rideshare crash there may also be the app company and its insurers, and the questions include whether the driver was logged in to the app, whether a ride had been accepted and whether a passenger was in the car at the moment of the crash. The answers can decide which insurance policies are looked at, so we ask for the records that show them, early.

The rideshare driver’s own auto policy, the other driver’s policy and your own policy may all be part of the picture. Every Texas auto policy includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage and personal injury protection unless a named insured rejected them in writing (Insurance Code sections 1952.101 and 1952.152), and PIP is paid without regard to who caused the crash (section 1952.155). We read each policy that may apply.

What to save after an Uber or Lyft crash

1. Screenshots of the trip in your app: the driver’s name, the car, the route, the time and the receipt.
2. The police report number. An officer who investigates a crash with injury files a written report with TxDOT within 10 days (Transportation Code section 550.062).
3. The other driver’s information. Texas requires drivers in a crash to give their name, address, registration number and insurer (section 550.023).
4. Photos of every car involved, the road and your injuries.
5. Names of witnesses, including other passengers.
6. Medical records and bills, from the first visit on.

Report the crash in the app as well, but keep your report to the facts. Do not guess about your injuries or about who was at fault, and talk to us before you give any insurer a recorded statement. If the app or an insurer contacts you with a quick offer, you do not have to answer on the spot. Ask for it in writing and show it to us.

If you were the rideshare driver

Driving for an app means hours on Houston’s busiest roads. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s 2025 list of the most congested road segments in Texas ranks the West Loop (I-610) between the Katy Freeway and the Southwest Freeway first in the state, and puts stretches of the Katy Freeway, the North Freeway and the Gulf Freeway on the list too. If another driver hit you while you were working, you may have a claim against that driver, and your own coverage and the app’s coverage may matter as well. We sort out the order in which policies are looked at.

If you were a passenger

A passenger rarely shares the blame for a crash. That does not mean the insurers agree quickly. When two drivers blame each other, each insurer may point at the other. Texas lets a defendant ask to designate a responsible third party, generally at least 60 days before trial (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 33.004), and a defendant found more than 50 percent responsible can be held jointly and severally liable (section 33.013). Our job is to show who caused the crash and to keep your claim moving while they argue.

Fault under Texas law

Texas uses proportionate responsibility. You can recover if your share of responsibility is 50 percent or less, and your recovery is reduced by your share (Civil Practice and Remedies Code sections 33.001 and 33.012). For a rideshare driver hit at a light, or a rider in the back seat, that share is often zero, but the evidence still has to show it.

Phone use is part of many fault arguments. Texas makes it an offense to read, write or send a message on a portable device while the vehicle is moving (Transportation Code section 545.4251). A rideshare app on a mounted phone raises its own questions about attention, which is one more reason to request the records early.

Injuries we see in rideshare crashes

Rideshare passengers usually sit in the back seat, often behind the driver or on the curb side, and they are often looking at a phone rather than the road when a crash happens. Side impacts at intersections and rear-end crashes in stop-and-go traffic are common. The injuries that follow range from neck and back strains to broken bones and head injuries.

Whatever the injury, the rules for the claim are the same: get care, follow your doctors’ advice and keep your records. An insurer reviewing a rideshare claim looks for gaps in treatment and for anything that suggests the injury came from somewhere else. A steady record from the first visit on answers those questions.

If you were treated at a Houston trauma center, the records may come from more than one place: the ambulance service, the emergency department and the doctors who treated you there. Texas DSHS lists Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital and Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center as Level I trauma facilities. We request every record so the file is complete.

Deadlines

A personal injury lawsuit in Texas generally must be filed within two years of the crash (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003). If a city or county vehicle, such as a bus, was involved, written notice is generally required within six months, and a city charter may set a shorter time (section 101.101). Insurance policies can have their own notice rules, so report the crash promptly.

How our Houston office handles rideshare claims

Five of the seven attorneys at our firm came from the insurance side. Jonathan Harris spent more than a decade as a senior trial attorney for a major automobile insurance company, and Ian Nelsen was an adjuster and an insurance defense attorney. In a claim with several insurers, that experience helps us anticipate each company’s moves.

We gather the trip records, the crash report, the policies and your medical records; we notify every insurer that may be involved; and when your treatment is understood we make a demand and negotiate. If an insurer will not deal fairly, we discuss filing suit before the deadline. You decide on any offer, with our advice.

For the general steps of a claim, see our page on hiring a car accident attorney in Houston. If the driver who hit your rideshare car drove away, read our page for a hit and run lawyer in Houston.