Usually, yes. But “suing Uber” rarely means what most people picture when they hear it. In practice, naming Uber in a claim almost always means going after its commercial insurance policy, not the corporate entity’s own bank account. “Uber” in that sentence usually means Uber’s insurer, the company actually funding the defense and any eventual payout, not Uber Technologies, Inc. writing you a check out of its own operating funds.
Knowing the difference between those two things, and understanding why the driver’s app status decides which policy actually applies, is what determines whether your case gets built correctly from the start.
Who You’re Actually Suing: The Driver, the Company, or Both
There are three practical categories here, and most people only think about one of them. The driver can be sued personally for their own negligence behind the wheel, just as in any other car accident. If the driver was on an active trip, Uber’s commercial insurance policy may provide the defense and pay any covered judgment or settlement, even though the lawsuit is generally brought against the driver or other responsible parties rather than the insurer itself. In narrower circumstances, Uber itself may also be named as a defendant, which we’ll discuss below.
Part of why direct corporate liability is the exception rather than the rule comes down to how Uber drivers are classified. They’re generally independent contractors, not employees, which is one of the main reasons a claim usually runs through the driver and the insurance policy attached to that specific trip, rather than straight to the company. This is a different starting point than a standard two-car collision, where how fault is determined in California usually points to a single at-fault driver and their insurer. With a rideshare accident, you’re not just asking who was at fault. You’re asking which of two or three separate policies actually responds, and that question exists on top of, not instead of, the ordinary fault analysis.
If you were hurt as a pedestrian struck by a rideshare vehicle rather than as a passenger, this same driver-versus-company breakdown still applies to your claim. You weren’t in the car, but the same question of which policy was active still decides who you’re actually pursuing, and rideshare accident claims in Glendale work the same way for pedestrians as they do for passengers. If the vehicle involved was a Waymo rather than an Uber or Lyft, the legal framework is different. Because no human driver is operating the vehicle, you generally would not pursue a claim against an individual driver. Instead, liability may rest with the company operating the autonomous vehicle, the manufacturer, or other parties involved in the vehicle’s design, software, or maintenance. Evidence such as sensor data, camera footage, and software logs often plays a much larger role than driver status or conduct. An experienced self-driving car accident attorney can evaluate the available evidence, identify the potentially liable parties, and guide you through the claims process.
How Uber’s $1 Million Policy Interacts With the Driver’s Personal Insurance
When a driver is actively transporting a passenger, Public Utilities Code §5433 requires Uber to maintain at least $1 million in commercial liability coverage, and that policy is primary. The driver’s own personal auto insurance typically doesn’t come into play at all during that window, since the commercial policy is what’s designed to respond.
Outside of an active trip, that changes. If the driver isn’t logged into the app, their personal policy is the only coverage available, and Uber’s commercial policy may not be in the picture. The regulatory framework behind all of this comes from the CPUC’s regulation of transportation network companies, which sets the specific insurance requirements tied to what the driver is doing on the app at the exact moment of the crash.
Why the Driver’s App Status Decides Who Pays
This is the part that confuses up most people trying to figure out their own case. Three states of the app produce three different coverage pictures: app off means only the driver’s personal insurance applies, app on but waiting for a passenger means a lower contingent tier of coverage from Uber applies, and an active trip means Uber’s full commercial policy is primary. How coverage applies depends on the driver’s app status at that exact moment, and getting that determination right is what tells you which policy, and therefore which defendant, actually matters in your case.
When a Direct Claim Against Uber Itself Applies
Most of the time, a claim runs through the driver and whichever insurance policy was active. But there’s a narrower path where Uber the company can be named directly rather than just its insurer: cases involving negligent hiring or retention, where Uber allowed a driver with a known disqualifying history, a serious criminal record or a pattern of safety complaints, to keep driving. These claims usually hinge on what Uber knew or should have known about the driver, not just what the driver did behind the wheel that day, and building that kind of case around the role of expert witnesses in evaluating industry screening standards is often necessary. California’s comparative fault rules still apply even here, so a direct claim against Uber doesn’t remove fault-allocation from the picture.
Separately, if the driver’s conduct supports potential punitive damages, such as driving under the influence or engaging in particularly willful and reckless behavior, additional claims may arise. Intentional acts, such as an assault, can raise a different set of legal issues altogether.
What This Means for Building Your Case
Identifying the driver’s app status and the policy that was actually active at the time of the crash is what determines how your claim gets built and who or which company is responsible. Get that wrong, and you can spend months pursuing the wrong insurer or missing a viable direct claim against the company entirely. Once you know who the defendants are, the next question is how evidence supports a personal injury claim against each of them, and California’s filing deadline for injury claims applies regardless of how many parties end up in the case.
If you haven’t taken the immediate steps yet, the steps to take right after the accident are worth reviewing first. And once you’re ready to think through liability, a rideshare accident lawyer at Court House Lawyers can help. How Los Angeles rideshare cases prove fault often comes down to preserving and subpoenaing the records Uber doesn’t hand over voluntarily.
Figuring out which policy applies and who to name isn’t something you need to figure out alone. A free case review costs nothing, and it’s the fastest way to find out exactly where your situation fits into everything covered above.
