Rideshare Accident Lawyer in Oregon

No comprehensive one. Oregon's only statewide TNC-specific law is HB 2393 (2021), codified at ORS 742.518 and ORS 742.520, which requires TNCs to provide PIP benefits to drivers and passengers — minimum $15,000 per person PIP plus lost wages up to $3,000/month for up to 52 weeks. There is no statewide period-tiered liability framework like New York, California, or Texas have. Insurance tiers are set by individual cities. Inside Portland, City Code § 16.40.230 imposes $50k/$100k/$25k for Period 1 and $1M combined single limit for Periods 2 and 3. Outside Portland, coverage depends on the municipality and the TNC's voluntary commercial policy.

Portland City Code § 16.40.230 sets the minimum floors: Period 1 (app on, waiting for match) requires $50,000 per person/$100,000 per incident/$25,000 property damage in primary coverage. Periods 2 and 3 (match accepted through drop-off) require $1,000,000 combined single limit for death, injury, and property damage, plus $1,000,000 combined single limit UM/UIM coverage. Section 16.40.230(B) requires all periods of TNC service to be covered, closing the Period 1 gap. These are the city-mandated minimums — both Uber and Lyft must file evidence of compliance with the City before receiving a TNC permit.

Two years from the date of the crash under ORS 12.110(1) — Oregon's general personal injury statute of limitations. There is no rideshare-specific SOL. If a government vehicle was involved, the Oregon Tort Claims Act (ORS 30.275) imposes a 180-day written notice requirement. The more urgent deadline in rideshare cases is evidence preservation: TNC app data showing the driver's period status, GPS logs, trip records, and the driver's acceptance/completion timestamps must be subpoenaed before the TNC's data retention policies allow deletion.

Outside Portland, there is no city-mandated TNC insurance tier framework in most Oregon municipalities. The statewide floor is limited to general auto minimums (25/50/20) plus PIP under ORS 742.520. Your recovery depends on the TNC's voluntary commercial policy, the driver's personal auto policy (and whether it contains a livery exclusion), and Oregon's general UM/UIM requirement under ORS 742.502 (UM/UIM must equal bodily injury liability limits). Eugene and Gresham operate separate municipal TNC programs, but many smaller cities have no rideshare-specific regulations at all.

Oregon has no TNC-specific driver classification statute. Driver status is determined by Oregon's common-law right-to-control and economic-realities test, applied on a case-by-case basis by the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI). In practice, Uber and Lyft classify Oregon drivers as independent contractors. SB 1166 (2025 session) would add pay, sick leave, and deactivation protections for TNC drivers without converting them to employees, but it has not been enacted as of this writing. The classification matters for accident claims because it affects whether the TNC can be held vicariously liable for the driver's negligence.

Yes. Oregon follows modified comparative fault under ORS 31.600 with a 51% bar. If you are found more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. In rideshare cases, fault can be allocated among multiple parties — the TNC driver, a third-party at-fault driver, and potentially the injured person. Each defendant will attempt to shift blame to reduce their own share. An attorney must determine the driver's period status at the time of the crash, identify the applicable insurance policy, and build the evidence to keep the claimant's fault below the 51% threshold.