New York Uber, Lyft & TLC Accident Lawyers

New York State's rideshare statute, Vehicle and Traffic Law Article 44-B, requires $1.25 million in coverage while a driver is on a prearranged trip.

That statute was written to let rideshare companies operate everywhere in New York except New York City.

Inside the five boroughs, an Uber or Lyft driver is a Taxi and Limousine Commission licensee, and TLC rules set the floor at $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence.

Same app, same trip, a different ceiling entirely, decided by geography.

In a serious injury case, that difference is the whole negotiation.

Nobody hands an injured passenger a chart explaining which rule applied to their ride. Finding the applicable policies, and everything layered above them, is the work.

New York City licenses every for-hire vehicle through the TLC, which requires owners to maintain liability coverage of not less than $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence, well above the state's ordinary minimums.^[1] That obligation attaches to the licensed vehicle rather than switching on and off with the app, which is why the coverage-period gaps that plague rideshare claims in other states are less of a problem inside the five boroughs.

Outside the city, Article 44-B controls and the numbers change substantially.

Note what the second and third rows do together. Outside New York City, whether the driver had accepted your trip yet is the difference between $1.25 million and $75,000.^[2] The company's own trip data answers that question, and it is not volunteered. On a Westchester, Long Island, or upstate trip, establishing the driver's status at the moment of impact is the single most valuable piece of early work in the case.

The state minimums for a small for-hire vehicle are also worth knowing, because VTL § 370 sets a low floor for vehicles carrying seven or fewer passengers and a much higher one at eight and above.^[3] Our national explainer on Uber insurance coverage periods covers how the period framework works in general terms.

A passenger is the cleanest plaintiff in New York auto litigation. You did nothing, you had no control, and there is no comparative fault story to tell about you.

No-Fault Benefits Come First

As an occupant of an insured vehicle you are a covered person, so $50,000 per person in medical expenses and partial lost earnings is available regardless of who caused the crash. Written notice is due within 30 days. This is the part most passengers never file, because they assume the driver's company handles it.

Then the Liability Claim, If You Clear the Threshold

Pain and suffering requires a serious injury under Insurance Law § 5102(d), and only eight categories survive the May 2026 reform. A fracture qualifies outright. A disc injury or a shoulder tear has to be documented into permanent consequential limitation or significant limitation of use. Our page on the New York serious injury threshold walks through what proof each category needs.

When the Other Driver Caused the Crash

You are not limited to the vehicle you were riding in. A claim can proceed against the at-fault motorist and against the for-hire vehicle simultaneously, and where the other driver carries state minimums, the TLC-licensed vehicle's higher limits and any SUM coverage become the meaningful source of recovery. Sorting out which policy answers first is exactly the kind of question that should not be left to the adjusters.

These cases usually have more parties than the app screen suggests:

• The vehicle owner or fleet operator - Many TLC vehicles are owned by fleets or leased to drivers, and the owner carries the license obligation and the policy
• The base or affiliated dispatch entity - For-hire vehicles are affiliated with a TLC-licensed base, which can be a proper defendant depending on the arrangement
• The other motorist - Often the primary tortfeasor, and always worth a coverage search of their own
• The rideshare company - Direct liability theories turn on the degree of control and on the company's own conduct, and they are contested. The trip data, the driver's history on the platform, and the company's screening practices are where those claims are made or lost
• A municipal defendant - If a city bus or municipal vehicle was involved, a 90-day notice of claim applies alongside the ordinary claim

Drivers are not left out of this page. A TLC-licensed driver injured on the job has a no-fault claim, potentially a claim against the at-fault motorist, and questions about workers' compensation and Black Car Fund coverage that depend on how the work was structured. Our national page for a rideshare driver who was injured covers the driver's side of the claim, and app couriers on two wheels run on entirely different insurance rules, set out on our page for e-bike and delivery riders.

New York places no statutory cap on compensatory damages:

• Medical expenses above no-fault - Surgery, imaging, therapy, injections, and future care once the $50,000 in basic economic loss is spent
• Lost earnings and lost earning capacity - The real figure, not the $2,000 monthly no-fault ceiling
• Pain and suffering - Uncapped, and the largest component in most serious passenger cases
• Permanent limitation, disfigurement, and scarring
• Loss of enjoyment of life - Including the activities and work the injury removed
• Wrongful death and survival damages - Where a crash is fatal, pursued as pecuniary loss to the family plus the decedent's own conscious pain and suffering

The 2026 fault bar in CPLR § 1411(b) is not a threat to a passenger, since a rider has no culpable conduct to weigh. It matters enormously to a driver or a pedestrian in the same collision, and how New York now allocates fault in motor vehicle cases explains why. What can still reduce a passenger's damages is a seat belt: Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1229-c(8) keeps non-use out of the liability question entirely but allows it in mitigation of damages when pleaded as an affirmative defense.

Rideshare cases are coverage cases before they are injury cases:

• We establish which rule governed the trip first, because a prearranged trip outside the city carries ten times the coverage of a driver who had not yet accepted the ride
• We demand the trip data early, before the app's record of the driver's status becomes a discovery fight
• New York admitted, New York based: Don Worley is licensed in New York, and our office is on Steinway Street in Astoria, with a Midtown Manhattan office by appointment
• More than 40,000 cases handled and over $100 million recovered for injured people, with a 98 percent recovery rate
• Recognition that came from other lawyers. Our attorneys appear in Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, both of which run on peer evaluation, and in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the National Trial Lawyers.
• Free consultations 24 hours a day, hospital and home visits, and no fee unless we win. You Win or It's Free

The deadline is three years from the crash under CPLR § 214(5), and two years from death in a wrongful death case, with a 90-day notice of claim if a public entity was involved. The no-fault notice, at 30 days, arrives long before any of them. The full timeline is on our page covering the deadlines that govern a New York injury claim.