Rideshare accident settlement amounts in North Dakota

If you were hurt in an Uber or Lyft crash in North Dakota, the size of any settlement is decided less by how bad the wreck looked than by two questions of state law: which insurance policy is on the hook, and whether you are even allowed to recover for pain and suffering. Both answers come from North Dakota statutes that are specific to this state, and they do not track what a general rideshare article will tell you.

Here is what actually sets the number.

The coverage depends on what the app was doing

North Dakota law divides a rideshare driver's time into stages, and the insurance that has to be in place changes with each one.¹ The moment of the crash, down to whether a ride had been accepted and whether a passenger was aboard, sets the ceiling on most settlements.

When the driver was logged into the app and waiting for a request, with no ride accepted (the "application on stage"), the transportation network company insurance has to provide at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage.²

Here is the part that catches people off guard. North Dakota keeps those same lower limits during the "engaged stage," the window after the driver accepts your ride request but before you are physically in the car.² Many states require the full million-dollar policy the instant a ride is accepted. North Dakota's statute does not. The $1,000,000 in primary liability coverage attaches only during the "passenger on-board stage," when a passenger is actually in the vehicle.³ So if a driver on the way to pick you up runs a light and causes a crash, the statutory floor for that wreck is $50,000 per person, not a million. That figure is only a floor: North Dakota does not limit a rideshare company's liability to the required minimums, and a company can carry more.⁴ The point is to check the policy that actually applied rather than assume a million dollars was in play.

The required coverage can be carried by the driver, by the company, or by a combination of the two, and if the driver's rideshare policy excluded the claim or lapsed, the company has to step in from the first dollar.²³ That backstop matters, because a personal auto policy usually will not pay for a crash that happened while the driver was working. North Dakota even requires the company to warn its drivers, in writing, that their personal policy may not cover them.⁵ The state's Insurance Department publishes consumer guidance making the same point about coverage gaps between personal and rideshare policies.⁶

North Dakota is a no-fault state, so PIP pays first

North Dakota is one of a handful of true no-fault states. Every auto policy, rideshare coverage included, has to carry personal injury protection, which the statute calls basic no-fault benefits.⁷ Those benefits pay medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash, and they extend to passengers and to pedestrians struck by the vehicle.⁷ For an injured rideshare passenger, that usually means the first layer of money arrives without a fight over fault.

The limit is modest. Basic no-fault benefits are capped at $30,000 per person, per accident, for all economic loss combined.⁸ Inside that cap, wage replacement is set at 85% of lost income and limited to $150 a week, and funeral costs to $3,500.⁸ The insurer cannot sit on the money: benefits are overdue if they are not paid within 30 days after the company receives reasonable proof of the loss, and overdue amounts collect interest.⁹

Whether you can sue for pain and suffering is a threshold question

$30,000 rarely covers a serious injury, and it does nothing for pain and suffering, which is often the largest part of a settlement. To reach past no-fault benefits and recover for that noneconomic harm, North Dakota makes you clear a threshold first. Under the "secured person exemption," the at-fault driver is shielded from a claim for noneconomic loss unless your injury qualifies as a "serious injury."¹⁰

The statute defines that term exactly. A serious injury is an accidental bodily injury that results in death, dismemberment, serious and permanent disfigurement, disability lasting more than 60 days, or medical expenses over $2,500.¹¹ The $2,500 medical trigger is low, so most injuries that need imaging, a course of physical therapy, or more than a couple of clinic visits will clear it. But if your injuries are minor and heal quickly, North Dakota law can bar the pain-and-suffering side of the claim altogether.

How fault and damage rules move the number

Two more rules shape the figure once you are past the threshold.

North Dakota uses modified comparative fault. You can still recover if you were partly to blame, but your damages are reduced by your share of the fault, and you recover nothing once your fault is as great as the combined fault of everyone else, which puts the bar at roughly the 50% line.¹² Insurers understand this and will try to pin a portion of the blame on you to shrink or defeat the claim.

Working in your favor, North Dakota does not cap compensatory damages in an ordinary injury case. There is no statutory ceiling on what a jury can award for medical bills, lost earnings, or pain and suffering. A jury award of economic damages above $250,000 can be sent to the judge for a reasonableness review, but that review only checks whether the number bears a reasonable relation to the actual loss.¹³ Punitive damages are separate and uncommon: they require clear and convincing evidence of oppression, fraud, or malice, and they are capped at twice the compensatory award or $250,000, whichever is greater.¹⁴ One more rule can quietly cut a payout. After a verdict, the defendant may ask the court to reduce economic damages by amounts already paid from collateral sources such as health insurance.¹⁵

The coverage you carry yourself, and the gaps

Every North Dakota auto policy has to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at limits matching the 25/50 liability minimum, and rideshare policies carry primary UM/UIM as well.¹⁶ That coverage earns its keep because the driver who hits your Uber may carry only North Dakota's minimum liability limits of 25/50/25, which a single hospital stay can exhaust.¹⁷ Your own UM/UIM, or the rideshare company's, is what fills the shortfall.

The gaps cut the other way too. A crash during the engaged stage leaves you working with the lower $50,000/$100,000 limits rather than the million.² And if the driver never told their personal insurer they drive for a living, that personal policy can deny the claim outright, which is one reason the record of when the driver was logged on matters so much.

Deadlines and the evidence that decides coverage

North Dakota gives you six years from the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, and the same six years for vehicle and property damage.¹⁸ That is one of the longer windows in the country. A wrongful death claim is shorter, two years from the date of death.¹⁸ Waiting is still risky, because evidence gets harder to recover as time passes.

The app data is worth locking down early. North Dakota requires the rideshare company and its insurer to cooperate in a claims investigation, including turning over the exact times the driver logged on and off the platform.¹⁹ Those timestamps decide which coverage stage was in effect, and that decides whether you are looking at a $50,000 policy or a million-dollar one.

If you need the official crash report, you can order it from the North Dakota Department of Transportation, and our North Dakota crash report guide covers how.²⁰ If your vehicle lost resale value even after a solid repair, that is a separate claim from your injury case, and our North Dakota diminished value page handles it.

Getting the full value

A rideshare claim in North Dakota almost always involves more than one insurer: the driver's personal carrier, the rideshare company's policy, and possibly your own UM/UIM, each with an incentive to point at the others. Which policy is primary depends on the app stage, and so does the duty to defend.¹³ Figuring out which insurer pays, and proving your injury cleared the serious-injury threshold, is usually where the settlement is won or lost. If you want help with that, you can find an attorney in our legal directory.

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

Sources

1. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40.1-01 (definitions of the application on, engaged, and passenger on-board stages). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40-1.pdf

2. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40.1-04 (insurance during the application on and engaged stages: $50,000/$100,000 bodily injury, $25,000 property damage). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40-1.pdf

3. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40.1-03 (insurance during the passenger on-board stage: $1,000,000 primary liability). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40-1.pdf

4. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40.1-06 (chapter does not limit a transportation network company's liability to the required coverage). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40-1.pdf

5. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40.1-02 (required disclosures; a driver's personal auto policy may not provide coverage). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40-1.pdf

6. North Dakota Insurance Department, Transportation Network Company Guidance. https://www.insurance.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/Consumers/Auto/20210610%20Transportation%20Network%20Company%20Guidance.pdf

7. N.D.C.C. §§ 26.1-41-02, 26.1-41-06 (every registered vehicle must carry security for basic no-fault benefits; benefits paid without regard to fault to occupants and pedestrians). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf

8. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-41-01(2), (24) ($30,000 maximum basic no-fault benefits per person per accident; work loss at 85% of income and $150 per week; $3,500 funeral). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf

9. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-41-09(2) (benefits overdue if not paid within 30 days of reasonable proof of loss; interest accrues on overdue amounts). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf

10. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-41-08 (secured person exemption from liability for noneconomic loss absent a serious injury). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf

11. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-41-01(21) (definition of "serious injury": death, dismemberment, serious and permanent disfigurement, disability over 60 days, or medical expenses over $2,500). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c41.pdf

12. N.D.C.C. § 32-03.2-02 (modified comparative fault; no recovery when the claimant's fault is as great as the combined fault of others). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c03-2.pdf

13. N.D.C.C. § 32-03.2-08 (review of reasonableness of economic damages awards over $250,000). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c03-2.pdf

14. N.D.C.C. § 32-03.2-11 (exemplary damages require clear and convincing evidence of oppression, fraud, or malice; capped at twice compensatory damages or $250,000, whichever is greater). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c03-2.pdf

15. N.D.C.C. § 32-03.2-06 (post-verdict reduction of economic damages for collateral source payments). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t32c03-2.pdf

16. N.D.C.C. §§ 26.1-40-15.2, 26.1-40-15.3 (mandatory uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40.pdf

17. N.D.C.C. § 39-16.1-11 (minimum motor vehicle liability limits of 25/50/25). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t39c16-1.pdf

18. N.D.C.C. §§ 28-01-16(4), (5), 28-01-18(4) (six-year limitation for injury to the person and to property; two-year limitation for wrongful death). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t28c01.pdf

19. N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40.1-08 (duty to cooperate; disclosure of the precise times the driver logged on and off the platform). https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t26-1c40-1.pdf

20. North Dakota Department of Transportation, Purchase a Crash Report. https://www.dot.nd.gov/travel-and-safety/safety/purchase-crash-report