Hit While Riding in an Uber in New York — Who Pays, and What Must I Prove?

Attorney Answer

As a rideshare passenger you are almost never the one at fault, so the two real questions are which policy pays and whether your injuries clear New York's serious-injury threshold — and your message does not yet say what was hurt.

Start with the threshold, because it decides whether a pain-and-suffering claim exists at all. Insurance Law § 5104(a): "Notwithstanding any other law, in any action by or on behalf of a covered person against another covered person for personal injuries arising out of negligence in the use or operation of a motor vehicle in this state, there shall be no right of recovery for non-economic loss, except in the case of a serious injury, or for basic economic loss." A passenger struck in a New York collision is ordinarily a covered person, whoever owned either vehicle. Your treatment and lost earnings within the no-fault limits are basic economic loss, paid as first-party benefits rather than won in a suit; Insurance Law § 5106(a) makes those benefits overdue if they are not paid within thirty days after you supply proof of the fact and amount of the loss.

Which version of "serious injury" applies to you turns on when a lawsuit is commenced, not on when the crash happened: Part EE of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026 reaches actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026. So: have you already filed a lawsuit? If not, a case filed now runs under the current Insurance Law § 5102(d): "(d) "Serious injury" means a personal injury which results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; or significant limitation of use of a body function or system." For an action commenced on or after that date, CPLR 1411(b) bars recovery in a motor-vehicle personal injury case where the claimant's own culpable conduct is greater than that of the person or persons sued, and Insurance Law § 5104(d) caps non-economic recovery at $100,000 for certain at-fault injured persons — provisions aimed at drivers, not at a passenger. If an action was already commenced before May 26, 2026, that case instead runs on the former nine-category § 5102(d), quoted in the first question below, and on the former CPLR 1411 pure comparative rule.

On who pays, two vehicles means two sets of coverage, and the owner of each is in the picture. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 388(1): "Every owner of a vehicle used or operated in this state shall be liable and responsible for death or injuries to person or property resulting from negligence in the use or operation of such vehicle, in the business of such owner or otherwise, by any person using or operating the same with the permission, express or implied, of such owner." That is what puts the owner of the vehicle you were riding in, and the owner of the car that struck it, behind their drivers. Which policy responds first, and in what layers a rideshare trip is covered, depends on the driver's status at the moment of the collision and on documents you can get.

What you can do

1. Write down what hurt, when it started and what you have done about it — the threshold is decided on medical proof, so an unexamined ache is worth nothing to the claim.

2. See a doctor and keep going; gaps in treatment are the first thing an insurer looks for.

3. Save the trip record from the rideshare app — it fixes the driver, the vehicle, the route and the time.

4. Notify the no-fault insurer in writing and complete the application; that claim carries its own regulatory deadlines, far shorter than the litigation clock.

5. Get the police accident report and the insurance information for both vehicles.

6. Ask a New York attorney whether any action has been commenced on your behalf, since the definition in § 5102(d) changed in 2026.

⏱ Time limits apply. A personal injury action must be commenced within three years under CPLR 214(5) — "an action to recover damages for a personal injury except as provided in sections 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215" — running from the date of this collision, not from the day treatment ended. If either vehicle turned out to belong to a public corporation, much shorter periods would apply instead. The no-fault claim carries its own, much shorter regulatory requirements, which this page does not state. Which deadline is yours depends on facts this page cannot see; have a New York attorney fix your dates rather than estimating them.