Uber, Lyft, and Rideshare Collision Claims in Prince George's County, MD
The distinguishing feature of a rideshare claim is not liability. It is coverage. What insurance responds to your injury depends on the status of the driver's application at the moment of the collision, and that single fact can move the available limits by an order of magnitude.
The Three Coverage Periods
When the driver is offline and using the vehicle personally, only the driver's personal auto policy applies, and most personal policies contain exclusions for commercial use. When the driver is logged into the application and waiting for a request, a contingent policy applies at limits substantially lower than the full commercial coverage. When the driver has accepted a request and is en route to the passenger, or has a passenger in the vehicle, the platform's commercial liability coverage applies at limits that are far higher. Establishing which period was in effect requires the platform's trip data, and that data must be requested promptly and, where necessary, compelled.
You may have a rideshare claim whether you were the passenger, the driver of another vehicle, a pedestrian, or a cyclist. The analysis is the same in each case.
The Independent Contractor Defense
Rideshare platforms classify drivers as independent contractors and resist vicarious liability on that basis. Whether that classification holds under Maryland law in any particular circumstance is a contested question, and the practical answer in most cases is that the platform's own contractual coverage responds regardless, which is why establishing the coverage period matters more than winning the classification argument.
Maryland's contributory negligence rule and three-year limitations period apply to rideshare claims in the same way they apply to any other collision claim.