Rideshare accident settlement amounts in Arkansas

If an Uber or Lyft crash hurt you in Arkansas, the size of your settlement depends less on some statewide average and more on one question: what was the driver's app doing at the moment of the wreck? Arkansas answers that with hard numbers, and those numbers set the practical ceiling on any settlement.

Arkansas regulates Uber and Lyft under the Transportation Network Company Services Act, Ark. Code Ann. §§ 23-13-701 through 23-13-722.¹ The Arkansas Public Service Commission has certified three transportation network companies to operate in the state: Rasier, LLC (Uber), Lyft Drives Arkansas, Inc., and SendaRide, Inc.² The Act, not a company's own policy language, is where your recovery starts.

The coverage tier that sets your ceiling

Arkansas scales the required insurance to what the driver was doing, and it uses the app log to draw the lines.

When a driver is logged on and waiting for a request but has not accepted a ride, the driver or the company must carry primary liability coverage of at least $50,000 for death or bodily injury per person, $100,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage.¹ The moment the driver accepts a ride request, the coverage jumps. From acceptance until the last passenger leaves the vehicle, the required primary coverage is at least $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury, and property damage combined.¹ Arkansas defines that window, the "prearranged ride," as beginning when the driver accepts the request through the app and ending when the last rider gets out.³

Before the driver ever opens the app, none of this applies. An off-duty driver who causes a crash is backed only by an ordinary personal auto policy, which in Arkansas can sit at the state minimum of $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.⁴

So a passenger injured mid-ride is looking at a $1 million policy, while a pedestrian struck by a driver who was merely logged on and idle is looking at a fifth of that. Same injuries, very different ceilings.

Your own insurance may not fill the gap

Arkansas lets a personal auto insurer write rideshare activity out of the policy completely. A private passenger policy "may exclude coverage" for a vehicle "being used to provide transportation network company services" and while the driver is logged on, and an insurer that excludes coverage this way has no duty to defend or pay the loss.⁵

That is why the company's commercial policy usually carries the claim. The Act does force cooperation on the paperwork. Within ten business days of a request, the TNC and its insurer must hand over the exact times the driver logged on and off,⁵ which is often the single fact that decides whether the $1 million tier or the $50,000 tier applies.

Arkansas puts no cap on what you can recover

Some states cap non-economic or punitive damages, which drags settlement values down. Arkansas does not. Article 5, Section 32 of the Arkansas Constitution bars the legislature from limiting the amount recovered for injuries to a person.⁶ Lawmakers passed a punitive-damages cap anyway, the greater of $250,000 or three times compensatory damages up to $1 million under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-55-208, but the Arkansas Supreme Court struck it down in Bayer CropScience LP v. Schafer, 2011 Ark. 518.⁶ Both economic damages like medical bills and lost wages and non-economic damages like pain and disfigurement are recoverable with no statutory ceiling. The real limit is the available insurance and the strength of your proof.

How shared fault cuts the number

Arkansas uses modified comparative fault with a 50% bar. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122 reduces your recovery by your share of fault and eliminates it entirely once your fault equals or exceeds the other side's.⁷ If your damages come to $200,000 and you are found 20% at fault, you collect $160,000. At 50%, you collect nothing. Rideshare wrecks often involve more than two parties, so how fault gets split directly moves the final figure.

The three-year deadline

The deadline to file a personal-injury lawsuit in Arkansas is three years from the date of the crash.⁸ A claim for damage to your vehicle carries the same three-year limit.⁸ Miss it and the claim is gone, however clear the other side's liability. Three years sounds like plenty, but rideshare claims can stall while insurers argue over which coverage tier applies, so the deadline matters more than people expect.

Other policies that can add to a settlement

Two coverages can stack more money onto a rideshare claim. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage pays when the at-fault party has no insurance or not enough to cover your injuries. Arkansas insurers must offer UM bodily injury, UM property damage, and UIM coverage, though a named insured can reject it in writing.⁹ Medical-payments coverage is the other. Every Arkansas auto policy must offer at least $5,000 per person in medical, disability, and death benefits for expenses incurred within 24 months of a crash, unless the insured rejected it in writing.¹⁰ Uber and Lyft also carry contingent uninsured-motorist coverage during a ride, so an injured passenger may have more than one place to collect.

A drunk rideshare driver changes the math

If your driver was intoxicated, punitive damages come into play, and Arkansas does not cap those either.⁶ You might also have a claim against a bar or liquor store, but Arkansas dram-shop liability is narrow. The seller is liable only if it knowingly served alcohol to a minor or to someone already clearly intoxicated.¹¹ Arkansas recognizes no social-host liability for serving adult guests,¹¹ so a private party generally is not on the hook.

Getting the paperwork and getting help

Pull the official crash report early. It locks in the facts and helps establish which coverage tier was active. Arkansas crash reports come from the Arkansas State Police, and the how-to lives on our Arkansas crash reports page. If your car lost market value even after a clean repair, that is a separate claim worth pursuing; see diminished value in Arkansas. Because rideshare cases turn on log timestamps, tier disputes, and fault arguments, most injured riders do better with a lawyer. You can start with our legal directory.

This article is general information about Arkansas law, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-13-709 (Insurance requirements), Transportation Network Company Services Act. https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-23-public-utilities-and-regulated-industries/ar-code-sect-23-13-709.html

2. Arkansas Public Service Commission, Transportation Network Companies. https://apsc.arkansas.gov/utilities/transportation-network-companies/

3. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-13-702 (Definitions; "prearranged ride"). https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-23-public-utilities-and-regulated-industries/ar-code-sect-23-13-702.html

4. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-22-104 (Minimum liability coverage). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-2/chapter-22/subchapter-1/section-27-22-104/

5. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-13-711 (Exclusions; claim investigations). https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-23-public-utilities-and-regulated-industries/ar-code-sect-23-13-711.html

6. Bayer CropScience LP v. Schafer, 2011 Ark. 518; Ark. Const. art. 5, § 32; Ark. Code Ann. § 16-55-208. https://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/supreme-court/2011/10-1246-0.html

7. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122 (Comparative fault). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-64/section-16-64-122/

8. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105 (Three-year limitations period). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-105/

9. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 23-89-403, 23-89-404, 23-89-209 (Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-23/subtitle-3/chapter-89/subchapter-4/section-23-89-403/

10. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-202 (Medical and disability benefits offer). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-23/subtitle-3/chapter-89/subchapter-2/section-23-89-202/

11. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 16-126-103, 16-126-104 (Dram-shop liability). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-7/chapter-126/section-16-126-104/