Can You Sue Uber or Lyft Directly After a Crash in Georgia?

Usually you sue the driver, and the Uber or Lyft insurance policy pays the claim. You can name the company too, but Georgia generally does not make a business liable for the carelessness of an independent contractor (O.C.G.A. § 51-2-4), and Uber’s terms say its drivers are not its employees or agents. From the moment a driver accepts a ride until the trip ends, the company must maintain at least $1 million in liability coverage, or make sure it is maintained (O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24).

A claim against the company itself usually needs something more. Examples are proof that the company broke a safety statute or controlled the work closely enough to answer for it (O.C.G.A. § 51-2-5).

Can I Sue Uber or Lyft Directly, or Only the Driver?

The driver who caused the crash is the main defendant in most rideshare cases. That does not limit you to the driver’s own money. Georgia requires the rideshare policy to recognize the driver as a rideshare driver and to cover the driver’s rideshare work explicitly (O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24(b)(1)).

So the company’s money usually reaches you through its insurance, not through a verdict against the company. In most cases, the real questions are what the app was doing at the moment of the crash and which policy applies.

Naming Uber or Lyft can still make sense in some cases. That depends on the evidence of the company’s own conduct, when the crash happened and, for riders, the app’s arbitration terms.

Written by attorney Jonathan Flack. Before founding Flack Injury Law, Jonathan spent two and a half years on the insurance side of commercial truck, tractor-trailer and medical transport van cases. Super Lawyers Rising Star (2024 to 2027). The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40, Civil Plaintiff (2026). GTLA member. Last reviewed: November 3, 2026.

Does Georgia Law Treat Uber and Lyft Drivers as Independent Contractors?

Not in the rideshare statutes themselves. O.C.G.A. §§ 40-1-190 to 40-1-200 regulate the companies: registration, driver lists, background checks, a zero tolerance drug and alcohol policy and digital identification. They do not label drivers independent contractors for injury claims. One section applies its rules whether a driver is employed directly by the company or works as an independent contractor (O.C.G.A. § 40-1-193). A 2025 law, House Bill 339, added a liability shield. For crashes involving a driver’s personal car, the company is not liable under any theory, including vicarious liability, as long as it was not negligent, committed no criminal misconduct, complies with Georgia’s rideshare driver requirements and runs a criminal background check or obtains a background check certification for each driver at least every two years (O.C.G.A. § 40-1-201).

The statute that does address classification is narrower. A 2022 law, House Bill 389, treats services through a network company, including a ride share network service, as outside “employment” under Georgia’s unemployment insurance law. The company must have a written contract with the driver promising that it will not:

• Set specific dates, times of day or a minimum number of hours the driver must be logged in.
• End the contract because the driver turned down a ride, or require the driver to accept a specific request.
• Bar the driver from working through other network companies, except while working through this one.
• Restrict the driver from any other lawful work.

That rule is part of Georgia’s unemployment insurance law (O.C.G.A. § 34-8-35). It does not decide who pays for a crash.

For injury claims, courts use Georgia’s general rules. A business is liable for an employee’s negligence within the scope of its business (O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2). It generally is not liable for someone who runs an independent business and is not under its immediate direction and control (O.C.G.A. § 51-2-4). Uber’s U.S. terms, last modified October 12, 2026, include independent drivers among its third-party providers. The terms state that third-party providers are “not actual agents, apparent agents, ostensible agents, or employees of Uber.”

When Can a Claim Reach the Company Itself?

Georgia lists situations in which an employer is liable for a contractor’s negligence (O.C.G.A. § 51-2-5). Three come up in rideshare cases:

• A duty imposed by statute. Georgia requires rideshare companies to make sure each driver has a current for-hire license endorsement or a current private background check certification (O.C.G.A. §§ 40-1-193(c) and 40-5-39).
• Control. The company keeps the right to direct or control the time and manner of the work, or steps in and takes control.
• Ratification. The company ratifies the contractor’s unauthorized wrong.

Plaintiffs also bring claims for the company’s own negligence, such as negligent hiring or retention. Each one needs evidence about what the company knew or did.

What Courts Have Decided

In Hollins v. Lyft, Inc., a passenger was shot by his Lyft driver after a dispute during a 2020 ride. He sued Lyft for vicarious liability, negligent hiring, retention and training, and negligence per se based on Georgia’s background check rules. The federal trial court granted summary judgment to Lyft on all claims. Only the background check claim was appealed. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed in an unpublished opinion on February 11, 2026 (No. 25-10926). It held that Lyft’s checks complied with Georgia law and disclosed no disqualifying conviction.

Hollins was not a crash case, but it shows that a screening claim may fail when the company’s checks followed Georgia law.

Can You Sue the Uber or Lyft Insurance Company Directly?

Sometimes, depending on when the crash happened. In Barnes v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (Ga. Ct. App. No. A24A0852, Aug. 26, 2024), a person in a June 2020 collision with a Lyft driver sued the driver, Lyft and Lyft’s insurer. The Court of Appeals held that Lyft is a “motor carrier” under Georgia’s Motor Carrier Act. So, under the law in effect at the time, the insurer could be joined in the same suit. The Georgia Supreme Court declined to review the case in July 2025.

The legislature narrowed that rule in 2024. Senate Bill 426 applies to causes of action accruing on or after July 1, 2024. A motor carrier’s insurer can be joined only if a motor carrier is insolvent or bankrupt. It can also be joined if the driver or the carrier cannot be personally served after reasonable diligence (O.C.G.A. § 40-1-112(c)). SB 426 does not mention rideshare companies, and no Georgia appeals court has yet applied it to one. But Barnes held that rideshare companies are motor carriers, and in 2025 the legislature dropped a proposal to remove them from that definition, so the narrower rule should apply to their insurers too. For crashes since then, the insurer usually cannot be named as a defendant, though its policy may still pay the claim.

What the Uber or Lyft Policy Covers

Georgia sets the minimum coverage by what the driver’s app was doing (O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24):

• App off. Uber and Lyft both say the driver’s personal auto policy applies.
• App on, waiting for a request. At least $100,000 for all injuries in one crash, with up to $50,000 per person, plus $50,000 for property damage (O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24(b)(2)).
• Ride accepted through the end of the trip. At least $1 million per occurrence for death, injury and property damage (O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24(b)(3)). The policy must also carry uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM) coverage. For causes of action accruing on or after July 1, 2023, House Bill 529 set that minimum at $300,000 per accident, with a maximum of $100,000 per person.

If a driver’s own required coverage lapses, the company’s coverage becomes primary from the first dollar of the claim (O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24(f)). When the driver’s personal insurer asks, the company must report the time of the crash within 15 days. It must also report when the driver logged on and off in the 12 hours before and after it (O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24(h)(4)).

See our posts on whether the driver’s app was on or off and the 2023 change to rideshare uninsured motorist coverage.

Do Uber’s Terms Send Rider Claims to Arbitration?

For riders, often yes. Uber’s U.S. terms, last modified October 12, 2026, send disputes with Uber to individual arbitration, including claims about accidents resulting in personal injury. They exclude individual small claims cases and individual claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment.

Read the current terms for whichever app you used before deciding where to file.

Steps to Protect a Claim After an Uber or Lyft Crash

• Screenshot the trip: driver name, vehicle, plate, and pickup and drop-off times.
• Report the crash in the app and to the police, and keep the report number.
• Send an early preservation letter asking the company to keep trip, GPS and log-in records.
• Check your own auto policy and your household’s policies for UM coverage.
• Do not give a recorded statement or sign a release before getting advice.
• If the claim has not settled, file suit within two years of the crash (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33). Claims involving a government vehicle need written notice much sooner.

You can still recover if you were partly at fault, as long as you were less than 50% responsible (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). If your crash was in Gwinnett, see our Gwinnett Uber and Lyft accident lawyer page. Passengers can also read who pays medical bills after an Uber or Lyft crash. Our Atlanta Uber and Lyft accident lawyer page covers the rest of the claim.

Suing Uber or Lyft in Georgia Questions

Related Guides

• Atlanta Uber & Lyft Rideshare Accident Attorney
• Was the Uber Driver’s App On? Why It Changes Your Georgia Claim
• Uber and Lyft Cut Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Georgia: What It Means for You
• Hurt in an Uber Accident in Georgia: Who Pays My Medical Bills?

See all our guides for people hurt in Georgia crashes.