INJURED IN AN UBER OR LYFT?

Kentucky Rideshare Accident Cases

A rideshare accident can involve an Uber or Lyft driver, a second driver, and two or more insurers. Kentucky ties the insurance that responds to what the driver’s app was doing at that moment, so the first question is the driver’s app status, and the answer sits in records held by the rideshare company.

Kentucky treats Uber, Lyft, and similar platforms as transportation network companies. Under 601 KAR 1:113 Section 3(1), a transportation network company must maintain primary automobile insurance for a driver who is logged on to its mobile application or engaged in a prearranged ride, and KRS 281.655 sets the minimum liability amounts for each state. The next section shows how those two sources divide the coverage.

App Status Records

The regulation builds an exchange of app-status information into every coverage dispute. A driver must disclose to interested parties, automobile insurers, the Department of Vehicle Regulation, and investigating police officers whether he or she was logged on to the application or on a prearranged ride at the time of an accident. In a coverage investigation, the company and an insurer that may owe coverage must cooperate in exchanging information, and that information includes the precise times the driver logged on and off the application in the twelve hours before and after the incident, along with a complete description of the coverage, its exclusions, and its limits.

The company also keeps files the regulation requires. Vehicle inspection records and VIN and license plate numbers are kept for at least three years, and a driver’s file includes records of complaints against the driver and records of rides the driver refused. These records show who was driving, in which vehicle, and in what status.

Kentucky Rideshare Rules

Two statutory minimums and two regulation provisions carry most of the weight in a rideshare coverage dispute. They read:

Neither source sets a total available recovery. The policy language and the facts decide which limits apply to a specific case.

Injured People and Responsible Parties

A passenger, the driver of another car, a pedestrian, and a cyclist can each be hurt in the same accident, and each reaches a different policy. A passenger in the rideshare vehicle looks to the rideshare coverage for the trip and to the other driver’s policy when that driver caused the accident. A person outside the rideshare vehicle looks first to the rideshare driver’s liability coverage, which the app status controls. Every driver owes those road users duties: a driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing a road where traffic signals are not in place or not working, and a bicycle on the road is treated much like other traffic.

The regulation lists uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage as part of the required insurance in both app states, and a passenger’s own household policy may add more. KRS 304.20-020 requires an insurer to provide uninsured motorist coverage in a policy unless a named insured rejects it in writing, and KRS 304.39-320 requires an insurer to make underinsured motorist coverage available to its insureds on request. Uninsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver carries no liability insurance at all, while underinsured motorist coverage applies when the at-fault driver has insurance but the policy limits are too low to cover the full extent of the injury.

Delivery Platform Drivers

Food and package delivery apps fall under a separate statute. KRS 365.532 sets delivery network coverage at not less than $50,000 for one person, $100,000 for one accident, and $25,000 for property damage, or the amount required under KRS 304.39-110, whichever is greater, during the delivery available period and the delivery service period. The statute also provides that the company’s coverage begins at the first dollar when the driver’s own insurance has lapsed, and that the company has a duty to defend. Delivery driver coverage can shift among personal, platform, and commercial policies based on the driver’s app status at the moment of the accident.

Losses Documented in a Rideshare Case

A rideshare case may seek payment for medical expenses, lost income, reduced earning capacity, pain, and property damage, as Kentucky law allows. Which insurer pays each item depends on the app status and the policy tier, so the medical file, the wage records, and the app records are built side by side. A passenger and a person in another vehicle can carry the same injuries and still reach different policies.