These are published passenger injury results, shown because rideshare riders are passengers. They are not Uber or Lyft cases specifically. Past case results are no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its own merits. Full list at our published case results.

Why an Uber or Lyft Crash Is Not an Ordinary Car Crash

It looks like any other wreck. The claim behaves differently. Six things change when one of the drivers was working for a rideshare app.

The app decides the insurance

Missouri's rideshare insurance law ties coverage to three moments: the app is off, the app is on and the driver is waiting for a request, or the driver has accepted a ride and is on the way or carrying the rider (RSMo 379.1702). The same car, the same driver and the same crash can be covered by a $25,000 personal policy, a $50,000 policy, or a $1,000,000 policy, depending on a timestamp inside the app.

The driver is not an employee

Missouri treats rideshare drivers as independent contractors, not employees, when the company does not set their hours, does not stop them from driving for competitors or holding other jobs, and has a written independent contractor agreement with them (RSMo 387.414). A driver is not an agent of the rideshare company unless a written contract says so (RSMo 387.416). That means the usual rule that an employer answers for its employee does not automatically reach Uber or Lyft. The insurance still does, because the statute requires the coverage to be in place no matter who buys it.

The driver's own insurer may walk away

Missouri lets personal auto insurers exclude coverage entirely while a driver is logged into a rideshare app or carrying a rider (RSMo 379.1708). Many drivers do not know their policy has that exclusion. The law closes the gap: if the driver's insurance has lapsed or does not provide the required coverage, the rideshare company's insurance must pay from the first dollar and defend the claim (RSMo 379.1702).

Two insurers, pointing at each other

When the app status is unclear, the personal insurer says the driver was working and the rideshare insurer says the app was off. You are the one who waits while they argue. Missouri requires the rideshare company and the insurers to cooperate in a claim investigation, including sharing the precise times the driver logged on and off the app (RSMo 379.1708). Knowing to ask for that record, and asking early, is half the fight.

The company holds the proof

The trip request, the acceptance time, the GPS route, the speed data and the in-app messages all sit on the rideshare company's servers. Missouri only requires the company to keep individual rider trip records for one year from the date of the trip (RSMo 387.428). You have five years to file an injury lawsuit. The trip data can be gone long before that.

You probably agreed to arbitration

Both Uber's and Lyft's terms of use contain arbitration agreements that the companies say cover injury claims from rides. That does not mean you have no case. It means the fine print needs to be read by someone who handles these claims before you file anything. More on this below.

What to Do After an Uber or Lyft Accident in Kansas City

If you are reading this from a hospital bed, or on behalf of someone who is, start at step two. Nothing here has to happen today, but steps three and six are easier while the trip is still fresh in the app.

1. Call 911 and let officers document the scene. If the crash happened inside the Kansas City limits, the Kansas City Police Department almost always investigates and holds the report, and that includes crashes on I-70, I-435, I-35, I-29, I-670 and Bruce R. Watkins Drive within the city. The Missouri State Highway Patrol works highways outside municipal limits, in unincorporated Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties, and in smaller cities that ask for help.
2. Get medical care the same day, even if you feel alright. Adrenaline hides injuries. Kansas City has three Level I trauma centers for adults: University Health Truman Medical Center at 2301 Holmes Street, Research Medical Center at 2316 East Meyer Boulevard, and Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City at 4401 Wornall Road. Children's Mercy Hospital at 2401 Gillham Road is the region's Level I pediatric trauma center. A gap between the crash and your first visit is the first thing an adjuster will point at.
3. Screenshot the trip before anything changes. If you were the rider, capture the trip receipt, the driver's name and photo, the vehicle and license plate shown in the app, the route map, the pickup and drop-off times, and any messages with the driver. If you were in another vehicle, ask the driver whether the app was on and whether they had accepted a ride. Missouri requires a rideshare driver to carry proof of coverage and to tell the people directly involved, insurers and investigating officers whether they were logged into the app or on a ride at the time of the crash (RSMo 379.1702).
4. Photograph what you safely can. The vehicles, the Uber or Lyft sticker in the windshield, the plates, the damage, the road, the weather and your injuries.
5. Get names. Witnesses leave. So do other riders who shared the trip. A phone number written down at the scene is worth more than a police report six weeks later.
6. Report the crash in the app. Uber and Lyft both let you report a crash through the Help section, tied to the trip. Keep it short and factual: the date, the time, the location, and that you were hurt. Do not guess about fault and do not describe your injuries as minor.
7. Do not give the rideshare insurer or the other driver's insurer a recorded statement. You are not required to. More on this below.
8. Request the crash report. The Kansas City Police Department says to allow 10 to 14 business days from the date of the incident before a report is available. Request it through the department's online request form, in person at 1125 Locust Street between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. with valid ID, or by mail to KCPD, Criminal Records Section, 1125 Locust Street, Kansas City, MO 64106. Mailed requests can take up to 30 days. KCPD Criminal Records can be reached at 816-234-5100. From the Missouri State Highway Patrol, wait ten days from the date of the crash investigation, then request it through the Patrol's records portal or by writing to the Patrol Records Division, Attention: Traffic Crash Reports, P.O. Box 568, Jefferson City, MO 65102. The fee is $6.00 per basic crash report.
9. Call a lawyer while the trip data still exists. The one-year trip record requirement has nothing to do with the filing deadline, and it runs out first.

Why not give a recorded statement?

The adjuster who calls may be friendly, and may offer to pay for your car or your first doctor visit. What sounds like a courtesy is a deposition without a lawyer present. An honest "I'm okay" on day two, before a disc injury shows up on an MRI, gets read back months later as proof you were not hurt. Be polite, give your name, and say your lawyer will follow up. Nothing bad happens if you decline.

Which Insurance Applies: The Three Rideshare Periods

Insurance people talk about rideshare coverage in "periods." The label does not appear in Missouri's statute, but the structure does. This is the single most important table on this page.

Minimums, not the whole picture

The statute sets floors. Uber's own insurance page says it maintains at least $1,000,000 in third-party liability coverage while a driver is en route or on a trip, and at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per accident and $25,000 property damage while a driver is online and waiting. What the company carries for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage varies by state, and some states have lowered what rideshare companies must carry. Georgia cut the requirement from $1,000,000 to $100,000 per person in 2023, and California cut it to $60,000 per person starting January 1, 2026. The only reliable answer is the actual policy in force on the day of your crash, which is something we obtain in every rideshare case.

Your own insurance may also apply

Riding in someone else's car does not switch off your own policy. Your uninsured motorist coverage, underinsured motorist coverage if you bought it, and medical payments coverage may all apply to injuries you suffered as a rideshare passenger. Missouri requires uninsured motorist coverage on every policy, but underinsured motorist coverage is optional (RSMo 379.203), so pull out your declarations page and check. In a serious injury case, adding up every available policy is often the difference between a partial recovery and a full one. One of the results at the top of this page came from uninsured motorist claims brought against both our client's policy and the policy on the car he was riding in.

Who Can Bring a Rideshare Accident Claim

Who Can Be Held Responsible for an Uber or Lyft Crash

Finding every responsible party, and every policy behind each one, is most of the work in a rideshare case.

The rideshare driver

Missouri holds every driver to the highest degree of care (RSMo 304.012), and a rideshare driver is no exception. Speeding to a pickup, stopping in a traffic lane, or looking down at a ride request are all breaches of that duty. The driver's negligence is what triggers the insurance described above.

Uber or Lyft

This is where most people's expectations and Missouri law part ways. Because Missouri says a rideshare driver is not the company's agent unless a written contract says otherwise (RSMo 387.416), a claim that Uber or Lyft is automatically responsible for its driver's carelessness usually does not work. The company's insurance is still in play, because the statute requires it. A separate claim against the company for its own conduct is possible in narrower situations, for example where the company kept a driver on the platform after a rider complaint of intoxication that Missouri law required it to act on (RSMo 387.418), or where a driver who should have been disqualified under the state's screening rules was allowed to drive (RSMo 387.420). That is an argument built with facts, not one to assume.

Another driver

Many rideshare passengers are hurt by someone else entirely: a driver who ran a red light, rear-ended the rideshare car, or turned across its path. That driver's insurer is the first stop. If that driver has no insurance or not enough, the rideshare company's uninsured motorist coverage and your own policy come into play.

Your own insurance company

Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims are claims against your own insurer, and your insurer will evaluate them like any other adversary would. These claims have their own notice requirements and policy conditions, so they need attention early, not after the at-fault driver's policy is exhausted.

A government entity

Where road design or maintenance contributed, a claim against a public body may be possible, but the rules are different and much harder. Missouri public entities are protected by sovereign immunity, waived only for the negligent operation of a motor vehicle by a public employee and for a dangerous condition of public property (RSMo 537.600), and damages against a public entity are capped (RSMo 537.610). If it is a Kansas City street, written notice must also be given to the mayor within 90 days of the injury (RSMo 82.210). These deadlines are short and unforgiving, so ask early.

What this page does not cover

Horn Law handles motor vehicle accident claims. If a defective part caused the crash, that can point toward a manufacturer, and we do not take product liability cases. Uber and Lyft also face claims involving assaults by drivers. Those are not crash cases, and they are not a type of case we handle. Call anyway. A five minute conversation is better than guessing, and we would rather point you in the right direction than leave you without one.

If You Drive for Uber or Lyft and Were Hurt

Drivers get hurt too, often by people who were not watching for a car that stops and starts as much as a rideshare vehicle does. Your claim works differently from a passenger's.

Workers' compensation usually is not available

Because Missouri treats rideshare drivers as independent contractors when the conditions in the statute are met (RSMo 387.414), and says rideshare companies are not the employers of their drivers for purposes of Missouri's workers' compensation law unless they agree to it in a written contract (RSMo 387.432), most drivers hurt on the job do not have a workers' compensation claim. Uber's own insurance page lists automatic occupational accident coverage only for drivers in California, Massachusetts and Minnesota, not Missouri.

Your claim against the driver who hit you

If another driver caused the crash, you have the same injury claim any Missouri driver would have against that driver and their insurer, including lost income from the rides you could not give while you recovered.

If the other driver was uninsured or underinsured

While you are logged in, Missouri requires uninsured motorist coverage to be in place for you, provided by you, the rideshare company, or both (RSMo 379.1702). Your personal policy's own uninsured and underinsured coverage may exclude rideshare driving (RSMo 379.1708), unless you bought a rideshare endorsement. Get a copy of your policy and any endorsement before you talk to any adjuster.

Damage to your car

Uber says its contingent comprehensive and collision coverage applies while you are en route to a pickup or on a trip, up to the car's actual cash value with a $2,500 deductible, and only if you carry comprehensive and collision on your own policy. For a driver whose car is their income, that deductible and the time off the road are real losses that belong in the claim against the at-fault driver.

Your account after a crash

Uber and Lyft decide account status under their own policies, and a crash can trigger a review. That is a business decision, not a legal ruling about fault, and it does not change your right to recover from a driver who hit you.

The Evidence in a Rideshare Case, and When It Disappears

A rideshare crash leaves a digital trail that an ordinary car crash does not. Almost all of it belongs to the rideshare company.

What exists in a rideshare case

• The trip record: request time, acceptance time, pickup and drop-off times, route and fare
• App login and logout times, which decide the insurance period
• GPS location data and, where the company collects it, speed and hard-braking data from the driver's phone
• In-app messages and calls between the rider and the driver
• The driver's screening records, driving history and prior rider complaints
• Dashcam footage, if the driver runs one
• The driver's phone records, which can show whether the phone was being handled at the moment of the crash
• The vehicles themselves, before they are repaired, sold or totaled out

Read the first row next to the last. Waiting to hire a lawyer does not cost you the lawsuit. It can cost you the trip data that proves which insurance applies. A preservation letter, a written demand to the rideshare company and its insurer identifying exactly what must be kept, converts routine deletion into a decision the company has to make knowingly. Missouri courts recognize an adverse inference against a party that intentionally destroys evidence in bad faith, following Brown v. Hamid, 856 S.W.2d 51 (Mo. banc 1993).

The phone in the mount

Missouri's hands-free law makes it illegal to hold or support a phone while driving (RSMo 304.822), and officers have been able to write tickets for it since January 1, 2025, after a warning-only period. The law carves out an exception for rideshare drivers using the company's app, but only if the phone is mounted or affixed to the vehicle. Hands-free features are allowed with a single touch or swipe to activate them. A driver who picked up the phone to accept a ride, or tapped through several screens to find a pickup, was outside the exception. The phone records and the app's own data can show it.

Who was allowed to drive

Missouri requires rideshare companies to run local and national criminal background checks and review a driving history report before a driver is approved. A person cannot drive if they have had more than three moving violations in the prior three years, or one violation in that period worth six or more points, among other disqualifications, and must be at least 19 (RSMo 387.420). Missouri also requires a zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy and suspension of a driver after a rider complaint while the company investigates (RSMo 387.418). Whether the company followed its own screening and complaint rules is a question worth asking in a serious case.

The Fine Print: Arbitration Clauses in the Uber and Lyft Terms

Every rider agrees to the company's terms of use when they sign up, and every update after that. Both companies' terms include an arbitration agreement.

• Uber. Uber's U.S. terms of use, updated August 12, 2026, say the arbitration agreement covers claims about incidents or accidents resulting in personal injury or death in connection with use of the services, and that it extends to claims brought by or against third parties. Individual claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment are carved out.
• Lyft. Lyft's terms of service, updated February 9, 2026, send disputes arising out of the Lyft platform and rideshare services to individual arbitration. Riders have no opt-out. Drivers have a limited opt-out for certain driver claims. Individual sexual assault and sexual harassment claims are carved out here too.

Courts have enforced these clauses against injured riders. In November 2024, New York's highest court held that an Uber rider who was struck by another car after her driver let her out in the roadway had agreed to arbitration by clicking through updated terms, and left it to the arbitrator to decide whether her already-filed lawsuit was covered (Wu v. Uber Technologies, Inc.). In 2024 a New Jersey appeals court sent a couple seriously hurt in an Uber crash to arbitration based on terms accepted on their account when their daughter placed an Uber Eats order. But in 2025 a New York trial court refused to compel arbitration against two passengers hurt in an Uber crash who had not booked the ride and had no Uber accounts of their own (Senat v. Uber Technologies, Inc.).

What an arbitration clause does not do

• It does not bind people who never agreed to the terms, such as the driver of another car or a pedestrian hit by a rideshare vehicle.
• It does not automatically govern your claim against a different at-fault driver, or your claim under your own insurance policy.
• It does not cap your damages. Arbitrators can award the same categories of compensation a jury can.
• It does not decide itself. Whether it is enforceable against you depends on how you accepted the terms, which version applies, and which court is asked.

The practical point is simple. Do not assume you have no case, and do not file anything until someone has read the terms that applied on the day of your ride.

Why Uber and Lyft Crashes Happen

Rideshare drivers are paid by the trip, work off a phone screen, and spend their shifts in the busiest blocks of the city. The crash patterns follow from that.

What the data says

Researchers at the University of Chicago and Rice University found that the arrival of ridehailing in major U.S. cities was associated with an increase of roughly 3 percent in motor vehicle fatalities and fatal accidents, which they estimated at about 987 deaths a year nationally, driven largely by more cars on the road (Barrios, Hochberg and Yi, The Cost of Convenience: Ridehailing and Traffic Fatalities, study period 2001 to 2016). Uber's own U.S. Safety Report, published August 30, 2024, counted 153 motor vehicle fatalities in 127 fatal Uber-related crashes in 2021 and 2022, across more than 17.5 billion miles, and reported a fatality rate of 0.87 per 100 million vehicle miles against a national figure of 1.35. Two caveats. The company's report is the company's own count. And neither source measures injuries, which are where most rideshare claims come from.

Rideshare Crash Injuries and What They Cost

Most rideshare passengers ride in the back seat, sometimes without a belt on a short trip, and often turned toward a phone or another passenger when the impact comes. The injuries follow.

• Neck and back injuries. Whiplash, herniated and bulging discs, and injuries that need injections or surgery.
• Head injuries. Concussion from striking a seatback, window or door frame, and traumatic brain injury with lasting cognitive symptoms. See our page on concussions.
• Shoulder and knee injuries. Torn rotator cuffs and ligament damage from bracing or impact.
• Fractures. Wrists, ribs, arms, legs and facial bones.
• Seat belt and chest injuries. Bruising, rib fractures and internal injuries from the belt itself in a violent stop.
• Injuries to children. Parents book rideshares with kids aboard. See our page on child injuries.
• Death. Missouri recorded 909 traffic fatalities in 2025 on a preliminary count (MoDOT).

If you were not wearing a seat belt, you still have a claim. Missouri's seat belt law requires drivers and front-seat passengers to buckle up, so an adult riding unbelted in the back seat has not broken it. Children have separate car seat and belt rules. Even where the law applies, not wearing a belt is not evidence of comparative negligence, and any reduction for it is capped at one percent of the damages (RSMo 307.178).

The two numbers that decide the value of a serious case are future medical care and lost earning capacity, and both need medical proof rather than estimates. An offer that arrives before you finish treatment cannot account for a surgery you have not had yet. Once you sign a release, the claim is over.

Missouri Law That Affects Your Rideshare Accident Claim

Kansas City sits on a state line

A ride that starts in Westport can end in Overland Park, and a crash a few miles west of State Line Road is a Kansas case. Kansas is a no-fault state with personal injury protection benefits, has a two-year filing deadline for most injury claims, and bars recovery if you are 50 percent or more at fault. Kansas also has its own rideshare law with its own insurance rules. If your crash happened in Kansas, that is a question to ask early rather than after a deadline passes.

If a family member was killed

Missouri sets an order for who brings a wrongful death claim. The first class is the spouse, the children or the surviving lineal descendants of any deceased children, or the parents. If no one in that class exists, the claim passes to siblings or their descendants, and if neither class exists the court appoints a plaintiff ad litem (RSMo 537.080). Only one action may be brought against any one defendant for one person's death, so families should talk to each other, and to a lawyer, early.

How Compensation Is Calculated

Economic damages

Money already spent and money that will be spent: emergency care, surgery, therapy, medication, lost wages, lost rideshare or delivery income, and lost future earning capacity. In a serious case these are proved with medical opinions and, where needed, a life care plan and an economist.

Non-economic damages

Pain, suffering, disfigurement, disability, and the loss of the things you used to be able to do. Missouri does not cap these in a motor vehicle case against a private defendant.

Punitive damages

Available only where the conduct meets the statutory standard (RSMo 510.261). Impaired driving is the most common route in a car case.

Wrongful death damages

Missouri allows the family to recover the financial losses caused by the death, funeral expenses, and the value of the services, companionship, comfort, guidance and support the person provided, along with the damages the person suffered before death (RSMo 537.090). Missouri does not allow recovery for grief and bereavement itself.

How much is enough coverage?

In a serious rideshare case, the answer is usually several policies added together: the rideshare company's liability coverage, another driver's liability coverage, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage from the rideshare policy and your own, and medical payments coverage. We identify all of them before any number is put on the table. For more on value, read How Much Is My Car Accident Injury Case Worth?

Rideshare in Kansas City: Where Crashes Happen

Rideshare traffic concentrates where parking is scarce and nights run late. In Kansas City, that means a handful of places.

• Kansas City International Airport. Pickups happen at the Arrivals commercial curb, at the purple signposts 2K through 2N, with a limited number of spots, and drivers stage at a wait lot on Brasilia Avenue. Crowded curbs, rolling luggage and drivers searching for riders make for low-speed crashes and pedestrian injuries.
• Downtown and the Power & Light District. Event nights at the T-Mobile Center and the district's bars put hundreds of drivers into a few blocks at closing time.
• Westport and the Crossroads. Nightlife corridors with narrow streets, heavy foot traffic and constant curbside stops.
• The Country Club Plaza. Shopping and dining traffic, tight curb space and many out-of-town visitors.
• The Truman Sports Complex. Chiefs and Royals game days load I-70 and the Blue Ridge Cutoff with rideshare traffic before and after every game.
• The interstates. Airport runs put rideshare drivers on I-29 and I-435, and cross-town trips use I-70, I-35 and US-71.

The numbers

Missouri recorded 909 traffic fatalities in 2025 on a preliminary count, a decrease of 46 from 2024 (MoDOT Tracker). In 2023, Jackson County recorded the most traffic fatalities of any Missouri county, at 132 (Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Traffic Crashes 2023 Statistics). One limitation: neither Missouri nor the rideshare companies publish crash figures for Uber and Lyft vehicles in Kansas City, so no one can honestly tell you how many local crashes involve a rideshare driver.

How a Kansas City Rideshare Accident Lawyer at Horn Law Builds Your Case

What it costs

Nothing up front. The consultation is free, the investigation is free, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we recover money for you.

One kind of case

Horn Law is a Missouri motor vehicle injury firm. That is what we do. Founded in 1992, the firm has focused on motor vehicle injury claims for over 30 years, with more than 3,500 motor vehicle injury cases handled. Lead Attorney Doug Horn has been handling cases since 1991. Lead Litigation Attorney Laurie Del Percio joined the firm in 2002 and has been named Best of the Bar by the Kansas City Business Journal and a Missouri Super Lawyer. You will talk to a lawyer, not a call center.

What we actually do

• Send preservation letters to the rideshare company and its insurer while the trip data still exists
• Pin down the app status at the moment of the crash, and with it the insurance period
• Obtain the actual rideshare policy in force on the day of the crash, not the marketing summary
• Pull the crash report from the right agency, whether that is KCPD or the Highway Patrol
• Identify every driver and every policy: the rideshare driver, the rideshare company, any other at-fault driver, and your own uninsured, underinsured and medical payments coverage
• Read the terms of use that applied to your ride and deal with any arbitration clause
• Build the medical evidence, including future care and lost earning capacity
• Handle the adjusters, so you do not have to
• Be prepared to file suit, or arbitrate, when a fair settlement is not offered

Published passenger injury results

$1,822,996: Traumatic brain injury to a client riding as a passenger with a drunk driver

$250,000: Head, neck and back injuries to a passenger when the car he was riding in was rear-ended

$229,000: Passenger forced into the median by an unidentified tractor-trailer, with uninsured motorist claims brought against both our client's insurance and the car he was riding in

$150,000: Concussion with vision changes and dizziness, to a passenger in a car that rear-ended another vehicle

$150,000: Policy limits settlement for a passenger when a second car failed to yield the right of way

$100,000: Policy limits settlement for a passenger who suffered a back fracture in a car driven too fast for wet road conditions

Past case results are no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its own merits. Full list at our published case results.

Horn Law also handles car accident claims, truck accident claims, motorcycle crash claims, delivery truck accident claims and reckless driving accident claims. For more on the steps after any crash, read What to Do After a Car Accident Involving an Injury or visit the Motor Vehicle Accident Information Center.

Uber and Lyft Accident Questions People Ask Us

Explore the FAQ Center

Talk to a Kansas City Uber and Lyft Accident Lawyer

If a rideshare crash hurt you or took someone from your family, the call is free and it does not commit you to anything. Bring whatever you have: a screenshot of the trip, a crash report number, a letter from an adjuster, or nothing at all. We will tell you what we think, including if we think you do not need a lawyer.