If an Uber or Lyft driver hit you in Seekonk, two kinds of insurance are in play at once. One is the coverage that must be in place while the driver is on the app, which the driver, the company, or both may hold. The other is the no-fault benefits every Massachusetts crash triggers, whoever caused it. Which rideshare figure applies turns on what the app was doing at the moment of the crash. Law Offices of Ronald J. Resmini, Accident & Injury Lawyers, Ltd. handles these claims alongside our other Seekonk car accident work in Bristol County. Below, our Seekonk Uber & Lyft accident lawyer goes through what the rideshare company’s coverage pays, what no-fault adds on top, how shared fault changes what you recover, and the deadline you are working to.
Who You’re Working With
Sam Sutter joined the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office in 1991 and prosecuted hundreds of cases there. Mothers Against Drunk Driving named him Prosecutor of the Year, and he later served as Bristol County District Attorney. That is a long, close look at how this county’s courts work, and a rideshare crash claim from Seekonk moves through those same courts.
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Who Pays After a Seekonk Uber or Lyft Accident?
Which policy pays depends on what the driver’s app was doing when you were hit, under c. 175, § 228. There are three situations.
- The driver was logged on and waiting for a ride request, with no passenger matched yet: at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 in total for bodily injury, plus $30,000 for property damage.
- The driver was engaged in a pre-arranged ride: at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, per vehicle, for death, bodily injury, and property damage. That period begins when the driver accepts a requested ride and ends when the rider safely departs from the vehicle.
- The driver’s own insurance has lapsed, failed to provide the required coverage, denied a claim for the required coverage, or otherwise ceased to exist: the rideshare company’s insurer must respond “beginning with the first dollar of a claim”. It also carries the duty to investigate and defend the claim.
Uninsured motorist coverage and PIP apply on top of whichever of those figures the driver’s status places you in. Each figure is a floor the statute sets, so the policy in your case may carry more. So the first thing to pin down is the driver’s app status at impact: it sets the size of the pot the claim can reach. A rideshare crash sometimes brings in a separate vehicle as well, such as a commercial truck, and our Seekonk truck accident work covers how that liability layer is handled.
Does Massachusetts No-Fault Insurance Cover You After the Crash?
Yes. Massachusetts is a no-fault state, so personal injury protection (PIP) pays first, regardless of who caused the crash. As a rideshare passenger you are covered as a guest occupant of the vehicle, so nothing about fault has to be settled before those payments start.
PIP pays at least $8,000 per person under c. 90, § 34A. That is the minimum every Massachusetts policy must provide, and some provide more. The exception is a PIP deductible: where the policyholder has bought one, it can reduce or remove those benefits for the policyholder and their household.
Treat the $8,000 as one pot rather than several: it covers medical expenses incurred within two years of the crash, wage loss and replacement services together, rather than $8,000 of medical bills with wages added on top. Wage-loss payments inside that limit are capped at 75% of your average weekly wage. Where you carry health insurance and it actually covers an expense, PIP pays no more than $2,000 of the medical bills for that expense. Anything your health plan does not cover remains payable by PIP within the policy’s limit. A claim has to be presented as soon as practicable, and always within two years of the crash, under c. 90, § 34M.
Pain and suffering sits behind a separate gate. Under c. 231, § 6D, it only becomes recoverable once reasonable and necessary medical expenses exceed $2,000, or without regard to that figure if the injury meets one of several exceptions described below. Keeping every bill and receipt is what proves you are past that line.
What If I Was Partly at Fault for the Crash?
You can still recover. Under c. 231, § 85, Massachusetts sets your share of the negligence against the combined negligence of everyone you are pursuing. You are barred only once your share is greater than theirs combined. If you and the person you are suing are each found 50% to blame, your share is not greater than theirs, so you still recover, with your damages cut in half.
Say you are found 20% at fault. Your damages come down by that 20%, and the other 80% is still yours to recover. The same statute presumes you exercised due care, so the burden sits with the other side to prove otherwise. That holds whether the other vehicle was the rideshare car itself, another motorist, or someone else entirely. Expect the insurer to look for a share of fault to put on you; moving a few points your way is the cheapest way for it to cut what it pays.
How Long Do I Have to File, and Which Court Hears It?
Three years. Massachusetts gives you three years from when the claim accrues to file suit, under c. 260, § 2A, and for most crashes that is the day it happened. Three years sounds generous. It is an outer limit rather than a plan: medical records, vehicle data and witness memories are all easier to gather in the first weeks than in the third year.
Which court hears the case turns on how much the claim is likely to be worth. Seekonk is in Bristol County, and its District Court is the First District Court of Bristol, held at Taunton. Smaller money claims belong there, and larger ones go to the Superior Court, which holds its regular sittings for Bristol County at three courthouses: Taunton, New Bedford, and Fall River. If you or the person you are suing lives in Massachusetts, the county follows where one of you lives or has a usual place of business, not where the crash happened. If neither of you lives in Massachusetts, the case can be brought in any county. None of that changes what your claim is worth. It decides where you would go if a suit is filed, and it is settled when the case is worked up, not now.
What Compensation Might Be Available?
Three layers, in a set order. No-fault benefits come first, covering medical bills and part of your lost wages. Liability coverage comes next, from the at-fault driver, the rideshare company, or both, at whichever of the figures above applies. Pain and suffering comes last, once the § 6D threshold described earlier is met.
How much liability coverage is there depends on who hit you. Where an ordinary driver is at fault in a two-vehicle crash, Massachusetts raised its compulsory minimum limits on July 1, 2025, to $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $30,000 for property damage. A policy that has not been issued or renewed since that date may still carry the earlier, lower limits, so the driver’s actual policy matters more than the legal minimum.
One driver’s policy is not always the end of it. In one case, we represented a client injured when another driver crossed into their lane, and by pursuing their own underinsured motorist coverage alongside the at-fault driver’s policy, we reached a recovery of more than $1 million. Every policy within reach of the crash is worth identifying early, including your own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Am I covered by PIP if I was a pedestrian or in another vehicle instead of riding in the Uber or Lyft?
Yes. The same statute covers household members, authorized operators, other passengers, and pedestrians struck by the vehicle, and it pays regardless of who caused the crash. One limit: Section 34A lets an insurer exclude someone whose own conduct contributed to the injury while driving under the influence, committing a felony, evading arrest, or intending to cause harm.
Will my own car insurance cover me if a rideshare vehicle hits me?
That depends on the wording of your own policy. Section 228(h) lets an insurer exclude coverage under a policy for a loss that happens while a driver is providing transportation network services. The exclusions it permits expressly include personal injury protection and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. So your own policy is worth reading closely rather than assuming it responds. That gap is one reason the rideshare company’s own coverage layers, described above, become so significant when a personal policy falls short.
What happens if a loved one died in a Seekonk rideshare crash?
Under c. 229, § 2, a Massachusetts wrongful death claim is brought by the executor or administrator, with other family members receiving the proceeds as beneficiaries. The deadline is three years from the death, or from when the executor or administrator knew or, using reasonable diligence, should have known the factual basis for the claim. The statute also allows punitive damages of at least $5,000 for malicious, willful, wanton, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct. We handle these alongside our Seekonk wrongful death work.
What injuries qualify for pain and suffering compensation under the threshold?
The $2,000 medical-expense threshold does not apply if the injury causes death, involves loss of a body member, causes permanent and serious disfigurement, results in a qualifying loss of sight or hearing, or consists of a fracture. Any one of those removes the dollar threshold entirely, so a broken bone on its own can be enough.
Can the rideshare driver's insurer claim I assumed the risk by getting in the vehicle?
No. The same statute that lets you recover unless your share of the fault is greater than the combined fault of those you are suing also abolishes the assumption-of-risk defense outright. It presumes you exercised due care in the moments before the crash. The burden falls on the defendant to prove otherwise, and that presumption stands unless they meet it.
Could the at-fault driver's insurance limits be lower than expected?
Possibly. Massachusetts raised its compulsory minimum limits on July 1, 2025, to $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $30,000 for property damage. A policy that has not been issued or renewed since that date may still carry the earlier, lower limits, which affects how much coverage is available from that driver alone. That is when your own underinsured motorist coverage becomes worth reading closely.
Talk to a Seekonk Rideshare Accident Lawyer
If an Uber or Lyft accident in Seekonk left you hurt, Law Offices of Ronald J. Resmini, Accident & Injury Lawyers, Ltd. offers a free consultation to go through what Massachusetts law makes available in your situation. We can walk through which coverage layer applies to your crash, the deadline that governs your claim, and what happens next. Call (508) 336-0500 or reach out through our contact page to set up a time to talk with our Seekonk Uber & Lyft accident lawyer.