How Much Can You Sue Uber For in Georgia?

How much can you sue Uber for? There is no fixed number. The value of a claim is built case by case, from your injuries, your medical treatment, your lost income, and the facts of the crash.

If you were hurt in a crash with an Uber driver or delivery vehicle, you likely want a real answer, not a headline. This page explains what shapes value under Georgia law and what to do next.

Why the question has no single number

The amount is driven by what the crash did to you, not by a standard price for rideshare cases. Injuries that heal in a few weeks are valued very differently from injuries that change how you work or live.

Treatment matters too. So does time missed from work and whether you can still do the job you had before. Your own records are the starting point.

Online settlement figures are a weak guide. Each one reflects other injuries, other fault, and other insurance. None of them show what your own claim holds.

Two things carry the most weight. The first is proof: bills, medical records, and wage documents that link your losses to the crash. The second is fault, which we cover below.

T. Madden & Associates, P.C. has been in practice since 1999. The firm has offices in Jonesboro, Atlanta, Decatur, Macon and Augusta.

Can you sue Uber, or only the driver?

A claim can name the driver who caused the crash. Whether a claim can also reach Uber turns on the facts of the trip.

Georgia has a specific rule for ride share companies. Under O.C.G.A. § 40-1-201, no ride share network service shall be liable under any theory of liability, including, but not limited to, vicarious or product liability, for any injury to persons or damage to property from the operation of a personal passenger car by a ride share driver by reason of owning, operating, or maintaining a digital network or internet network to connect passengers to ride share drivers for the purpose of prearranged transportation for hire or for donation, provided that there has been no negligence or criminal misconduct by the ride share network service, the service is in compliance with the requirements of this part relating to obligations to a ride share driver and any other provision otherwise required by law, and the service conducts or causes to be conducted a criminal background check or obtains a private background check certification as described in Code Section 40-5-39 for each ride share driver at least once every two years. O.C.G.A. § 40-1-201 provides that no ride share network service shall be liable under any theory of liability, including, but not limited to, vicarious or product liability, for any injury to persons or damage to property from the operation of a personal passenger car by a ride share driver by reason of owning, operating, or maintaining a digital network or internet network to connect passengers to ride share drivers for the purpose of prearranged transportation for hire or for donation, provided that there has been no negligence or criminal misconduct by the ride share network service, the service is in compliance with the requirements of this part relating to obligations to a ride share driver and any other provision otherwise required by law, and the service conducts or causes to be conducted a criminal background check, or obtains a private background check certification as described in Code Section 40-5-39, for each ride share driver at least once every two years.

Under O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2, a person is liable for torts committed by his servant by his command or in the prosecution and within the scope of his business. Whether a driver’s status and the trip fit that rule is a question for each crash.

The app matters, too. A driver who is logged on, has accepted a ride, or is carrying a passenger may stand in a different place than one who is offline.

Delivery crashes raise the same questions about app status, driver status, and who was responsible. Keep the order details and any messages from the app.

What Uber insurance means for your claim

Insurance coverage depends on what the driver was doing in the app at the moment of the crash. Georgia ties rideshare coverage to specific periods.

Under O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24, a transportation network company’s services cover the time a driver is logged on and available for ride requests, until logged off. They also cover the time from accepting a ride request until the trip is complete, whichever is later.

Personal auto insurers can exclude coverage for losses while a driver is logged on or providing those services. So the app timeline can decide which policy responds.

The company also has duties to share records. For claims coverage investigation, within 15 days of a personal insurer’s request, the company must provide the accident times and the driver’s log-on and log-off times for the 12 hours before and after the crash.

Policy limits and which policy applies are facts to confirm from the claim file, not to assume. Limits show how much money may be available. They are separate from what you can prove you are owed.

The damages that make up a claim

A claim usually includes economic losses you can document, and harm that no bill shows. Georgia separates general damages from special damages.

Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-2, general damages are those the law presumes flow from a wrongful act. Special damages actually flow from the act and must be proved.

Economic damages include past and future medical bills, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and costs such as rides to treatment. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1, medical expenses are limited to the reasonable value of medically necessary care. With health insurance, the evidence can include both amounts charged and amounts actually needed to satisfy those charges.

Future losses may be reduced to present value. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-13, the trier of fact may use a 5 percent discount rate or another rate it finds appropriate.

Pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment leave no bill behind, so they are harder to put in numbers. Brain injury, spinal cord injury, and amputation often need records of long-term care and equipment.

If a crash kills someone, Georgia law sets out who may recover. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2, a surviving spouse, or a child or children if there is no spouse, may recover the full value of the decedent’s life as shown by the evidence. A surviving spouse receives no less than one-third of that recovery.

How Georgia fault rules affect recovery

Georgia cuts your award by your share of fault. You recover nothing if you are 50 percent or more responsible (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33; Quynn v. Hulsey (2020)).

Georgia uses modified comparative fault, or shared fault. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, the jury sets your percentage of fault, and the judge reduces the award in proportion.

Each liable party pays only its own share. The statute says those shares are not joint liability and are not subject to contribution. The jury also weighs the fault of everyone who contributed to the injury, even people never named in the suit.

Your records do much of the work here. Medical notes, photos, and witness details help show how the crash happened and what it cost you.

Timing matters too. Georgia’s general rule for injury claims is two years, under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. Loss of consortium claims have four years under the same statute.

What you keep after fees and case costs

The headline number is the gross amount. What reaches you depends on the terms of your agreement and on the costs of the case. Many people focus only on the headline figure.

T. Madden & Associates, P.C. handles these matters on a no-fee-unless-we-win basis. The client may still be responsible for court costs and case expenses.

Terance Madden is the responsible lawyer for this page. The firm offers a free first consultation that is confidential and comes with no obligation to continue.

Next steps if you are weighing a claim against Uber

Start by protecting your evidence, and keep the two-year rule in view. Keep photos of the scene, your vehicle, and your injuries.

Save every medical record, bill, and receipt, including rides to treatment. Write down what happened while memory is fresh, and note any witnesses. Keep notes on missed work too.

Frequently asked questions

This page is general information, not legal advice. Responsible lawyer: Terance Madden, T. Madden & Associates, P.C. Contact: tmaddenlaw.com/contact.

If you’re weighing whether a crash with an Uber driver or delivery vehicle is worth pursuing for yourself or someone you love, reach out to our team. Terance Madden can talk through the facts of that crash with you.