{"id":2801,"date":"2026-03-26T13:29:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/uber-joins-effort-to-drive-legal-system-reform\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T13:29:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:29:48","slug":"uber-joins-effort-to-drive-legal-system-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/26\/uber-joins-effort-to-drive-legal-system-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Uber Joins Effort to Drive Legal System Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-480984271.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18829 lazyload\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-480984271-1024x683.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-480984271-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-480984271-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-480984271-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-480984271-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-480984271-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ridesharing platforms like Uber are as vulnerable as other businesses to the cost impacts of legal system abuse \u2013 costs that inevitably are passed along to their customers. The company reported a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uber.com\/us\/en\/u\/fair-insurance\/\">more than 50 percent<\/a> increase in its ride insurance costs per trip in recent years, despite also recording a lower rate of overall crashes from 2017 to 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Passengers see these costs reflected in trip prices, with insurance accounting for roughly 10 percent of the average rider fare nationwide, or as high as 47 percent in costlier areas like Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInsurance for us is the second-highest operating cost after payment to drivers,\u201d said Adam Blinick, Uber\u2019s senior director of public policy and communications, in a recent Executive Exchange interview with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. \u201cIt&#8217;s been a bit of a calling card to get more aggressive on litigation and being public about where we see the abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Executive Exchange: Uber\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w9Ogymkb3uM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Coordinated attorney outreach helps fuel the trend. Among motor accident victims surveyed by Protecting American Consumers Together, attorneys contacted <a href=\"https:\/\/protectingamericanconsumers.org\/news\/key-findings-national-car-crash-victim-survey\/\">92 percent<\/a> after their accident, including 57 percent who reported they were contacted by more than one. Solicitation typically occurred within a week of the incident, or \u201cbefore insurance can play a part in addressing someone&#8217;s concerns,\u201d Blinick noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis creates more avenues to push people into these mills and artificially inflate the value of claims,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Third-party litigation funders play a major role in recruiting claimants. Though lack of transparency surrounding the market conceals its true size, a recent report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau and 4WARN estimates third-party funders spent more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.4warn.com\/downloads\/4WARN-NICB-Third-Party-Litigation-Funding-Digital-Risk-to-Insurers.pdf\">$380 million<\/a> on online search ads alone between June 2024 and June 2025, with some engaging in brand impersonation and search engine manipulation to mislead consumers and extend litigation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iii.org\/white-paper\/increasing-inflation-on-liability-insurance-impact-as-of-year-end-2024-103025\">Research<\/a>&nbsp;from Triple-I and the&nbsp;Casualty Actuarial Society&nbsp;(CAS) estimates excessive litigation added $231.6 billion to $281.2 billion in liability insurance losses from 2015 to 2024, a finding that economic inflation alone cannot explain. A separate Triple-I&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iii.org\/white-paper\/review-of-motor-vehicle-tort-cases-across-the-federal-and-state-civil-courts-090425\">report<\/a>&nbsp;on civil case filings reinforces the finding, revealing approximately $42.8 billion in excess litigation value from motor vehicle tort cases filed between 2014 and 2023 in the federal and state civil courts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s a drop in the bucket to the reality of the problem,\u201d Kevelighan said, \u201cbecause less than 10 percent of cases had judgments. Others were settled and we can&#8217;t necessarily track the settlement data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blinick discussed how uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM\/UIM) insurance limits can also attract high claim volumes and disputes, particularly for the rideshare industry. Multiple states require ridesharing businesses to pay $1 million or more for such coverage, with limits in New York set at $1.25 million. Though intended to provide relief for policyholders hit by UM or UIM, these requirements mean bad actors stand to win more from claims, incentivizing excessive lawsuits and fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Staged crashes generate many such claims, with some schemes involving a network of rideshare passengers who are \u201ctied to the law firm, the medical providers, the body shops, the lenders themselves\u2026 all across the board,\u201d Blinick said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that many offenders \u201care the same ones who are doing slip and fall claims and mass tort suits against cities and counties. They\u2019re not picky in terms of who they\u2019re going after. They&#8217;re going wherever the opportunity presents itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB371\">California law<\/a> that went into effect this year aims to help mitigate fraud by reducing the rideshare industry\u2019s UM\/UIM coverage limits from $1 million to $300,000 per accident. Uber has also submitted a November 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-01-17\/uber-personal-injury-lawsuits-california-law\">ballot measure<\/a> that would cap contingency fees and limit medical damages in vehicle accident cases within the state, as well as shown support for New York\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.budget.ny.gov\/pubs\/archive\/fy27\/ex\/index.html\">2027 budget proposals<\/a> to combat fraud and unnecessary litigation.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Learn More:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/triple-i-legal-system-abuse-awareness-campaign-enters-california-illinois\/\">Triple-I Legal System Abuse Awareness Campaign Enters California, Illinois<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/new-york-amongleast-affordable-states-for-auto-insurance\/\">New York Among Least Affordable States for Auto Insurance<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/claims-severity-drives-liability-insurance-losses\/\">Claims Severity Drives Liability Insurance Losses<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/revealing-hidden-costto-consumers-of-auto-litigation-inflation\/\">Revealing Hidden Cost to Consumers of Auto Litigation Inflation<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/litigation-reform-works-florida-auto-insurance-premium-rates-declining\/\">Litigation Reform Works: Florida Auto Insurance Premium Rates Declining<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/new-consumer-guide-highlights-the-economic-impact-of-legal-system-abuse-and-the-need-for-reform\/\">New Consumer Guide Highlights Economic Impact of Legal System Abuse and Need for Reform<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/insuranceindustryblog.iii.org\/irc-report-reveals-that-one-in-three-drivers-were-either-uninsured-or-underinsured-in-2023\/\">IRC Report Reveals One in Three Drivers Were Either Uninsured or Underinsured in 2023<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lewis Nibbelin, Research Writer, Triple-I Ridesharing platforms like Uber are as vulnerable as other businesses to the cost impacts of legal system abuse \u2013 costs that inevitably are passed along <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-auto-insurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egocene.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}