Andrew Pickett Law is a top Melbourne rideshare accident law firm that handles injury cases throughout Melbourne and Brevard County for victims who need help getting medical treatment and financial recovery. Andrew Pickett has tried injury cases to verdict, and rideshare insurers price a file differently once trial counsel is on it.
What You Need To Know
- A rideshare claim turns on a single fact you can’t check alone: what the app was doing at the moment of the crash. The app’s status decides which insurance pays and how much of it exists.
- You can settle a rideshare claim yourself once you know which insurance band applies. Finding out which band applies is the part you can’t do alone. We’d rather you finish here knowing what to ask for, whether or not you call us.
- Anyone directly involved in the crash can ask Uber or Lyft for the driver’s log-on and log-off times. The company has to answer immediately. The request covers the 12 hours either side of the crash.
- Florida sets rideshare coverage in two bands, not the three you’ll see described elsewhere.
- The larger band starts when the driver accepts the ride, not when you get in. A driver on the way to collect you, with an empty car, is already inside the larger band.
- Suing the company is harder than suing the driver. The contractor rules that make it harder come with conditions the company has to meet.
- Screenshot your trip receipt and your ride history today. Both live in an account that can change, and both timestamp what the app was doing.
Start with what the app was doing at the moment of the crash, because the app’s status decides who pays and you can’t check it alone. Whether you need a lawyer, the request you can make today, and the fee come next. The coverage bands, the deadline and the statute citations sit further down.
What the App Was Doing Decides Who Pays
A rideshare claim turns on a single fact you can’t check alone: what the app was doing at the moment of the crash. The app’s status decides which insurance pays and how much of it exists.
Florida sets rideshare coverage in two bands rather than the three you’ll see described elsewhere. The larger band starts when the driver accepts the ride, not when you get in, so a driver on the way to collect you with an empty car is already inside the larger band.
Suing the company is harder than suing the driver. The contractor rules that make it harder come with conditions the company has to meet, and a company that skipped a condition loses the protection.
Screenshot your trip receipt and your ride history today. Both live in an account that can change, and both timestamp what the app was doing.
The One Request You Can Make Today
Anyone directly involved in the crash can ask Uber or Lyft for the driver’s log-on and log-off times, and the company has to answer immediately. The request covers the 12 hours either side of the crash.
Make the request in writing, through the app’s help channel and by email, and keep a copy. The log-on and log-off times are what put the driver inside or outside the larger insurance band.
Trip data passes its retention window in months. A request sent in the first week gets an answer, and a request sent in month eight may get an apology.
See a doctor within 14 days of the crash as well. Your own car insurance or a household member’s pays the first medical bills whatever caused the crash, and day 14 closes the first-bill coverage for good.
You Can Settle a Rideshare Claim Yourself Once You Know the Band
You can settle a rideshare claim yourself once you know which insurance band applies. Finding out which band applies is the part you can’t do alone, because the company answers a passenger and a lawyer differently.
If the app was clearly running an accepted ride, your injuries healed, and the company’s insurer offered a number that covers the bills, take the offer and keep every dollar.
The claims that go sideways go sideways over the band. One insurer says the driver was waiting, the second says the driver had accepted, and most of your recovery can ride on which answer sticks.
We’d rather you finish here knowing what to ask for, whether or not you call us. Call, read us the trip receipt, and we’ll tell you which band the record supports. The review costs nothing and nobody signs anything.
A Rideshare Accident Lawyer’s Fee Comes Out of the Recovery, Not Your Pocket
Andrew Pickett Law works on a contingency fee only. We take a minority percentage of whatever we recover for you, and we charge no fee at all if we recover nothing. You’ll never write us a check to get started, and you’ll never see an hourly bill.
Florida law caps the percentage a law firm can charge, so no firm sets its own ceiling, and we charge the same fee percentage on a rideshare case as on any other crash case. We back the Bar’s cap with a commitment of our own: we work your case to its maximum value, and we pay the filing fees, order the records and hire the experts while you’re still healing.
Ask any firm you talk to, including us, who pays the advanced costs if you lose. Firms answer the question differently, so get the answer in writing before you sign anything.
He Tried Cases for the State Before He Tried Them for Injured People
Before he represented injured people, Andrew Pickett tried cases for the state in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, and he has already worked from the other side of the courtrooms a Brevard case can end up in. He grew up in Brevard County, he trained at the Trial Lawyers College, and he tries injury cases to verdict. A rideshare claim runs through layers of corporate coverage, and the insurers behind the layers value a file differently when the lawyer holding it has taken cases to juries.
You’ll deal with the lawyer on your case rather than a call center. Clients tell us the same thing in their reviews: they always knew where their case stood. We’ll tell you the next step and roughly when to expect it, and when something changes, we’ll call you about the change.
We’ll Read the Band Off Your App Receipt on the First Call
A first call is a conversation, not a commitment. You read us what the app receipt says and describe the crash, and we’ll tell you which insurance band your ride falls in.
Bring your trip receipt, the driver’s name from the app, and the crash report number if you have it. You can call with no paperwork at all.
If Andrew Pickett Law takes your case, our fee comes out of a recovery and nothing comes out of your pocket while the case runs. If the claim doesn’t need a lawyer, we’ll tell you and you can take the offer.
Uber & Lyft Accident Lawyers Serving Melbourne
Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are widely used throughout Melbourne and the surrounding Brevard County area. Accidents involving rideshare drivers frequently occur along busy roadways such as US-1, Wickham Road, Eau Gallie Boulevard, Babcock Street, Palm Bay Road, and Interstate 95, where both local residents and visitors rely on rideshare transportation throughout the Space Coast.
At Andrew Pickett Law, our legal team represents individuals injured in accidents involving Uber and Lyft drivers. Rideshare crashes can involve multiple insurance policies depending on whether the driver was actively transporting a passenger, waiting for a ride request, or driving off-duty. Our firm carefully investigates these cases to determine liability and pursue full compensation for injured victims.
Compensation Possible in Rideshare Accident Cases
Victims injured in Uber or Lyft accidents may be entitled to compensation depending on the circumstances of the crash and the available insurance coverage. Our Melbourne injury attorneys help clients pursue compensation for:
- Emergency medical treatment and hospitalization
- Ongoing medical care and rehabilitation
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent disability or catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death damages for families who have lost loved ones
Because rideshare companies maintain large insurance policies but often dispute liability, working with an experienced attorney can help ensure that all responsible parties and insurance providers are properly identified.
Trip Data Passes Its Retention Window in Months
If you were injured in an Uber or Lyft crash, you must act decisively. Under Florida law (House Bill 837), the statute of limitations for personal injury claims based on negligence is two years from the exact date of the accident.
Waiting to secure legal representation can cripple your claim. Within months, rideshare trip data and driver app records pass beyond routine retention windows, vehicles are repaired, and the coverage tier that applies to your claim becomes harder to establish. Even when a crash seems minor at the scene, internal or cognitive injuries can take weeks to surface. To protect your financial security, call a lawyer as soon as you are medically stable.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rideshare Claims
Who is responsible for an Uber or Lyft accident?
Liability in rideshare accidents can depend on whether the driver was actively transporting a passenger, waiting for a ride request, or driving off the app. Insurance coverage may involve the driver’s personal policy as well as Uber or Lyft’s commercial insurance policies.
What should I do after an Uber or Lyft accident in Melbourne?
After a rideshare accident in Melbourne, you should seek medical attention, report the accident to law enforcement, and document the scene if possible. Because multiple insurance companies may be involved, it is often helpful to speak with an attorney before discussing the crash with insurers.
Can I file a claim if I was a passenger in an Uber or Lyft?
Yes. Passengers injured in rideshare accidents may be able to pursue compensation through the rideshare company’s insurance coverage as well as other involved drivers depending on the circumstances of the crash.
Uber and Lyft claims: what you can find out yourself
How do I find out whether the driver was logged into the app?
Whether the app was on, and what the driver was doing at that moment, decides which insurance pays and how much of it there is. It is the single most important fact in a rideshare claim, and the whole market is built on telling you that only a lawyer with a subpoena can get it.
That is not what Florida law says. In a claims coverage investigation, a rideshare company must immediately provide, on request by a party directly involved in the accident, the precise times the driver logged on and off the network in the 12 hours before the accident and the 12 hours after it.1
If you were the passenger, or the other driver, or a struck pedestrian, you are a party directly involved in the accident. You can ask, in writing, today, and you do not need us to do it. No Florida appellate court appears to have been asked to confirm that reading, but the words the statute uses are broad ones.
Two things to get right. Make the request in your own name. The statute names the directly involved party and the driver’s insurer — it does not name your representative, so a request that comes from a lawyer is on weaker footing than one that comes from you. And ask the driver as well: the driver has a separate duty to say whether they were logged on or carrying a passenger, and that one does run to your representative, to insurers and to investigating officers.2
Here is where we are still useful, and it is not nothing: what the statute produces is log-on and log-off times, and only those. Not the route, not the speed, not the acceptance timestamp, not the phone data. Getting the rest is a job for legal process. But the fact that decides which policy applies is a letter you can send this week.
How much insurance is there, and who pays it?
Florida sets rideshare coverage in two bands, not the three you will see described elsewhere.
| What the driver was doing | Required coverage |
|---|---|
| App off — driving for themselves | Nothing extra. Their own policy, and Florida does not require injury cover at all3 |
| App on, waiting to be matched | $50,000 per person / $100,000 per incident / $25,000 property4 |
| From the moment they accept the ride until the last rider gets out | $1 million4 |
Notice where the million starts. Not when you get in — when the driver accepts the ride.5 A driver on their way to collect you, with an empty car, is already inside the top band. That matters most to the person they hit on the way, who is usually told the opposite.
Two more points that work in your favor. This coverage is primary — it is not sitting behind anything. And a personal car insurance policy is allowed to exclude everything while the app is on. When it does, the rideshare company’s insurance responds from the first dollar, with a duty to defend, and you do not have to be turned down by the personal insurer first.6 If you are told to obtain a denial from the personal insurer before your claim will be looked at, that is not what the statute requires.
The 14-day treatment deadline still applies to you, whichever band you are in.
Can I sue Uber or Lyft, or only the driver?
People assume a big company means a big defendant. Florida has built two walls in the way.
The first is contractor status — but it is conditional, and the conditions are the interesting part. A rideshare driver counts as an independent contractor only if all four requirements are met: the company does not dictate specific hours, does not stop the driver working for a competitor, does not restrict other work, and there is a written agreement saying so.7 It is a test, not a label.
The second is a specific protection against being blamed for the driver. A rideshare company is not liable simply for running the app or being the company the driver was signed up to — but only where three things hold: it was not itself negligent or criminally at fault, it met every obligation the statute places on it, and it does not own the vehicle.8
The middle condition is the opening. The statute imposes real duties — on driver screening and background checks in particular — and a company that failed one of them has both a direct claim against it and no protection from the driver’s conduct. And none of this reduces the insurance: the protection covers the company’s liability for the driver, not the coverage that has to be there.8
One note on currency. These coverage figures have been in place since 2020. Five bills to change them were filed in the 2026 session and all five died in March 2026 — two of which would have reduced the required cover.9 Similar bills are likely to return. Check the figures against the current statute if you are reading this after the 2027 session.
References
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748(8)(d) — in a claims coverage investigation a transportation network company “shall immediately provide, upon request by a directly involved party or any insurer of the TNC driver… the precise times that the TNC driver logged on and off the digital network in the 12-hour period immediately preceding and in the 12-hour period immediately following the accident”
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748(7)(h) — on request, the driver must disclose to any party directly involved in the accident or the party’s designated representative, to automobile insurers and to investigating police officers whether they were logged on to the network or engaged in a prearranged ride
- Fla. Stat. §§ 324.022(1), 627.736(1) — property damage liability and personal injury protection required; bodily injury liability not required for ordinary private passenger vehicles
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748(7)(b)1., (7)(c)1. — primary automobile liability coverage of at least $50,000/$100,000/$25,000 while logged on and not engaged in a prearranged ride, and at least $1 million while engaged in a prearranged ride
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748(1)(b) — a “prearranged ride” begins when the driver accepts a ride requested through the digital network and ends when the last rider exits the vehicle
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748(7)(a), (7)(d), (7)(e) — coverage is primary; where the driver’s coverage has lapsed or is insufficient the company’s insurance applies beginning with the first dollar and carries the duty to defend; company coverage must not be dependent on a personal insurer first denying a claim. § 627.748(8)(b)–(c) — a personal policy may exclude all coverage while the driver is logged on
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748(9) — a driver is an independent contractor and not an employee only if all four listed conditions are met
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748(18)(a) — the three conditions for the company’s vicarious liability protection; § 627.748(18)(b) — the protection does not alter or reduce the coverage or policy limits required under subsection (7); § 627.748(12) — driver screening and background check obligations
- Fla. Stat. § 627.748, history — last amended by ch. 2020-87, Laws of Fla. Florida Senate bill records for the 2026 regular session: SB 334, SB 522, SB 632, HB 585 and HB 769 all died in committee on 13 March 2026
Other Cases Our Injury Team Handles
In addition to representing victims of Uber and Lyft accidents, Andrew Pickett Law handles many other types of accident and injury cases throughout Melbourne and Brevard County, including:
- Car Accident
- Truck Accident
- Motorcycle Accident
- Pedestrian Accident
- Bicycle Accident
- Slip and Fall
- Dog Bite Injury
- Boating Accident
- Wrongful Death
Areas and Zip Codes Served From Our Melbourne Office
- 32901 – Downtown Melbourne / Crane Creek
- 32904 – West Melbourne
- 32934 – Wickham Park / North Melbourne
- 32935 – Eau Gallie / Croton Road Corridor
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Meet Andrew Pickett
Dealing with the murky policies of insurance companies designed to confuse and prevent you from receiving compensation is our expertise.
15+ years experience as a personal injury attorney.
Specialized in battling insurance companies.
95% settlement rate for clients.
Handled 500+ personal injury cases.
Collected more than $38 million for clients.
500+ people have chosen Andrew as their attorney.
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