San Antonio Uber and Lyft Accident Lawyers

A rideshare accident is a motor vehicle collision that happens while a driver is logged in to a transportation network app such as Uber or Lyft, and it injures people the way any wreck does, loading the neck and spine until disc and soft tissue give way.

If you were hurt, you can pursue your medical bills, lost wages, physical pain and mental anguish, and lost earning capacity.

Joseph R. Echavarria of JRE Injury Law is a San Antonio Uber and Lyft accident attorney and former Bexar County prosecutor who has represented injured Texans since 2007.

Serving all of San Antonio and the Hill Country and every stretch of US-281, Broadway and North St. Mary’s Street in between. Our aggressive San Antonio Uber and Lyft accident attorneys are ready to take your case to trial. A trial-tested team beside you, no matter the size of your claim.

Joseph R. Echavarria of JRE Injury Law has prosecuted in the county where your case would be filed, and our clients have left 300+ Google reviews at a 5.0 rating. You will speak with your attorney, not a call center, in English or Spanish.

Call (210) 272-0101 for a free case review, or reach us through our contact page. No charge to learn what your San Antonio claim is worth.

Car accident Results of our of-counsel lawyers

• More than $2 million, from a jury, in an underinsured-motorist claim against the client’s own carrier: Telfort & Nunez v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (Shaw Cowart, LLP – Ethan L. Shaw Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law).
• A family with three young children, hurt in a collision, settled for the full policy limits of more than $350,000 in Oropeza v. Taylor (Shaw Cowart, LLP – Ethan L. Shaw Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law).
• $2.25 million for a father and son T-boned by a driver who ran a stop sign, after a single deposition dismantled the employer’s claim that its driver was only commuting (Jorge Mares Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law, with co-counsel David Fuentes).
• Two people injured in the same auto accident recovered a $150,000 judgment (Shaw Cowart, LLP – Ethan L. Shaw Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law).
• $125,000, by judgment, in an auto collision brought against a trucking company: Babineaux & Mink v. Trammel Time Trucking, LLC (Shaw Cowart, LLP – Ethan L. Shaw Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law).
• Three separate $100,000 judgments in auto cases, among them Cortez v. Vallejo and Gamez v. Rodriguez, plus a $100,000 resolution of another auto claim (Shaw Cowart, LLP – Ethan L. Shaw Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law).
• A $400,000 judgment in a personal injury case, and a $375,000 verdict that survived appeal (Shaw Cowart, LLP – Ethan L. Shaw Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law).
• Full policy-limits settlements for an injured family, and for two people hurt in one auto collision (Shaw Cowart, LLP – Ethan L. Shaw Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law).

What should I do right after the crash?

Five things protect your claim, and you can do all of them within a day or two.

• Get examined the same day, even if you can walk it off. University Hospital and Brooke Army Medical Center run the region’s Level I trauma centers.
• Call 911 so SAPD writes a report, and note the officer’s name and report number.
• Screenshot the trip in your app before it leaves your ride history.
• Photograph both vehicles, the roadway and your injuries, and collect witness numbers.
• Give no recorded statement to any adjuster until you have talked with us.

Can I handle the insurance claim on my own?

You can, but you are not facing one adjuster. You are facing two carriers whose first instinct is to point at each other, because the tier that applies sets your ceiling: fifty thousand dollars, or a million.

Three moves come early. An adjuster asks for a recorded statement while you are medicated and before you see a specialist. A quick offer arrives before your imaging, sized to the ER bill. Then a file reviewer who never examined you calls your disc degenerative and pre-existing.

A fourth belongs to this claim type alone. Uber and Lyft answer to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation under Tex. Occ. Code ch. 2402, and their carriers fight over app status because the difference is worth seven figures. A rideshare accident lawyer makes both commit to a tier in writing early, which never comes up in a routine car accident claim. Edmundo “Eddie” Leandro III came to us from insurance defense and knows how a carrier builds its file.

What does it cost to hire an attorney?

Nothing up front. Our fee comes out of the recovery, and there is none if we do not win. Pay Nothing Unless You Win.

What if I was partly at fault?

You can still recover, so long as you are not more than half responsible. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001, a claimant 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and § 33.012 reduces anything below that by your percentage. Adjusters push blame onto you for that reason.

Who can be held responsible for your injuries?

Usually more than one. Negligence in Texas has four parts: a duty to drive with reasonable care, a breach of it, a causal link between breach and harm, and provable damages. After a rideshare crash, all four can attach to several people at once.

The logged-in driver is the obvious defendant. The other driver may be the one who ran the light on Broadway. If either was working, respondeat superior, a rule making an employer answer for what its employee does on the job, brings a commercial policy into play, which is how delivery vans and commercial truck and fleet claims get tangled with rideshare wrecks.

A bar can be liable too. Dram shop law, Tex. Alco. Bev. Code § 2.02, reaches a business that served an obviously intoxicated person who then caused a collision, and the driver who hits a rider near the St. Mary’s Strip at closing time was often served somewhere first. A manufacturer answers for a failed seat back, belt or tire, and a VIA Metropolitan Transit bus falls under the Tort Claims Act.

Can I bring a claim against the company itself?

Sometimes, but it is harder than people expect. Tex. Occ. Code § 2402.114 lets Uber or Lyft treat drivers as independent contractors when it does not control their hours or territory, and § 2402.002 says the company and its logged-in drivers are not common carriers. The realistic path is usually the million dollar policy.

What happens when more than one driver is at fault?

A jury assigns each responsible party a percentage under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 33. Naming every defendant early matters, because each brings its own limits.

How JRE Injury Law builds these rideshare accident cases in San Antonio and Texas

We build them for trial from the first week, whether or not they reach a courtroom. Mr. Echavarria spent his first two years as an Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Bexar County, trying cases in the same courthouse complex where these suits are filed today. That footing changes an adjuster’s math, and it is why a former prosecutor makes a different San Antonio personal injury lawyer.

Ethan L. Shaw, Of Counsel to JRE Injury Law, is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and he is available where trial credibility carries weight. Day to day, your case belongs to people you will know by name, and you can meet our attorneys and case managers first.

Will I actually speak with Mr. Echavarria?

Yes. He returns calls himself, including in the evening, and clients mention it in their reviews more than anything else. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every case depends on its facts.

Talk to a San Antonio attorney today at (210) 272-0101, or send the details through our secure contact form.

Where in San Antonio do these crashes happen?

They cluster where ride demand and traffic volume overlap, and the list is short and familiar.

• Downtown curbside pickups at the River Walk, Houston Street and Alamo Plaza, where riders step into moving lanes.
• The St. Mary’s Strip, Southtown and the Pearl on weekend nights.
• The pickup zone at San Antonio International Airport and the ramps feeding US-281.
• Event traffic at the Frost Bank Center and the Alamodome, plus the citywide surge during Fiesta.
• The Loop 1604 and Loop 410 interchanges and the I-35 corridor downtown, where merging meets app distraction.
• Fredericksburg Road and the Medical Center in North Central, where constant curb stops produce rear-end and door-opening crashes.

How much is a rideshare injury claim worth?

There is no meaningful average, and any rideshare accident lawyer quoting a number on the first call is guessing. Value comes from four things: how badly you were hurt, how long and how consistently you treat, how fault gets divided, and how much insurance is available.

That last factor separates a rideshare crash from an ordinary collision. A driver with the app off carries whatever personal policy he bought. A driver mid-trip sits under a million dollar layer. Same road, same speed, very different ceiling.

What drives the value of a claim up or down?

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every case depends on its facts.

Texas lets you claim past and future medical expenses, lost wages and diminished earning capacity, physical pain and mental anguish, physical impairment, disfigurement, loss of consortium, life care and home modification costs, property damage, and exemplary damages under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003 for gross negligence. When someone dies, § 71.002 gives the spouse, children and parents a wrongful death claim, and § 71.021 preserves the claim the person held.

How does my share of the fault change what I recover?

It reduces the award by your own percentage. If a jury values your damages at one hundred thousand dollars and puts 20 percent of the fault on you, you recover eighty thousand under § 33.012. Cross 51 percent and you recover nothing, so we attack fault early.

How long does a settlement take?

Most claims resolve within several months to about a year, and your treatment sets that schedule, not us. We do not send a demand until your doctors know whether you have reached maximum improvement, because an early demand is valued as though you healed.

Unsure whether your claim is worth pursuing? Call (210) 272-0101. The San Antonio case review is free.

How long do I have to file in Texas?

Two years from the date of the rideshare crash under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003, and two years from the date of death in a wrongful death case. A child’s claim is generally tolled until age 18, and a narrow discovery rule applies to injuries that could not reasonably have been found. If a governmental unit is involved, a VIA bus or a city vehicle, written notice is due within six months under § 101.101, and the City of San Antonio charter shortens that to 90 days.

Waiting costs you proof, not just time. App and telematics records follow company retention schedules, business cameras overwrite within weeks, and witnesses move.

What causes most Uber and Lyft crashes in Bexar County?

Distracted driving leads. The TxDOT Crash Records Information System records distraction among the most frequent contributing factors in Texas crashes, and app-based driving adds a second screen.

• Handling the app to accept, cancel or navigate while moving.
• Fatigue at the end of a long shift, often after a day at another job.
• Unsafe curbside stops and pulling into traffic without yielding.
• Impaired third-party drivers late at night and on weekend mornings.
• Following too closely in stop and go traffic on I-35 and Loop 410.
• Drop-offs on the traffic side, putting riders in front of passing cars.

Is checking the app while driving negligence?

It can be. Reading or sending an electronic message while driving is prohibited by statute, and violating a safety statute can establish negligence per se: the breach is proven by the violation itself.

Is the driver held to a higher standard than other motorists?

No, and that surprises people. Tex. Occ. Code § 2402.002 says transportation network companies and their logged-in drivers are not common carriers, so the heightened duty behind passenger carrier claims does not reach them. Ordinary reasonable care still governs, and it is enough.

What injuries do rideshare crashes cause?

Back seat passengers absorb their own pattern of harm, because no airbag sits in front of them.

• Whiplash and cervical strain, from the head snapping back faster than neck muscles can brace.
• Herniated and bulging discs, when force pushes disc material onto a nerve root.
• Concussion and [traumatic brain injury](#TODO-suggest: /traumatic-brain-injury-lawyer-san-antonio/), from the head striking a window or seat back.
• Spinal cord injury, when a vertebral fracture reaches the cord itself.
• Fractures of the wrist, forearm, ribs and clavicle, from bracing and belt loading.
• Internal organ injury and bleeding, which can stay silent for hours.
• Post-traumatic stress, anxiety and a lasting fear of riding in cars.

Physical impairment is its own damages element in Texas, separate from pain, covering what the injury took from your ordinary life. We arrange the imaging and treatment that document it.

What if my symptoms did not start for a few days?

That is normal and it does not sink your claim. Adrenaline masks pain, and disc and soft tissue injuries commonly declare themselves two to five days out. Report them promptly so the record ties them to the crash.

Are anxiety and PTSD part of a claim?

Yes. Mental anguish is recoverable when it is genuine and documented, and counseling records prove it the way an MRI proves a disc injury.

Which rideshare situations do we take?

Whatever seat you were in, the first question is the same: what was the app doing? The answer comes in three tiers.

• App off. Only the driver’s personal policy responds, and the state floor is $30,000 per person, $60,000 per crash and $25,000 property damage under Tex. Transp. Code § 601.072.
• App on, waiting for a request. Tex. Ins. Code § 1954.052 requires contingent coverage of at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident and $25,000 property damage.
• Ride accepted, en route or passenger aboard. Section 1954.053 requires a total aggregate limit of $1 million per incident, plus UM and UIM coverage where § 1952.101 requires it.

Inside those tiers we represent back seat passengers, people in the other vehicle, pedestrians and cyclists struck at pickup points, riders bringing motorcycle crash claims after a turning app driver cut them off, Uber Eats drivers, and families caught in chain reactions on I-35.

What if the app was on but no ride had been accepted?

You are in the middle tier, well below the million dollar layer. That coverage is contingent, meaning it responds when the personal policy will not, and most personal policies exclude driving for hire. Pinning down the second a request was accepted can move a case up a tier.

What if the at-fault driver had no insurance?

Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may respond, and so may the company’s UM and UIM layer if you were in an accepted trip. Insurers must offer it under Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101, so check your declarations page.

Why do injured rideshare riders choose JRE Injury Law?

Because the people who have been through it say the same three things: they were kept updated at every step, the process was explained in plain words, and they were treated like a person, not a file number.

JRE Injury Law holds a 5.0 rating across 343 Google reviews, costs nothing up front, and advances investigation and records costs while your rideshare claim is pending. You Pay Nothing Unless You Win. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every case depends on its facts.

Who will actually be handling my case?

A named case manager you can reach directly, working alongside a personal injury attorney who tries cases rather than filing and waiting. If you cannot travel, we come to you.

Do you handle cases in Spanish?

Yes. Our staff serves Spanish-speaking clients every day, and you can run your entire Uber or Lyft case in Spanish.

Talk to a San Antonio attorney about your crash

The sooner we start, the more proof still exists. Trip data, camera footage and witness memory fade long before the two year deadline, and the adjuster calling today already has a head start. Let a San Antonio rideshare accident lawyer take that call instead.

JRE Injury Law, 931 Basse Road, San Antonio, TX 78212. Call (210) 272-0101 or toll free (844) 702-0350, any hour, or use our contact form. The consultation is free and you Pay Nothing Unless You Win.