If you were hit by an Uber or Lyft driver in California, or you were a passenger during a rideshare crash, the ground just shifted under your case. On June 25, 2026, Governor Newsom signed SB 623, a compromise bill that resolved months of political fighting between rideshare companies, trial lawyers, and consumer groups over how injured Californians can recover for rideshare-related crashes.
The bill was pitched as a way to head off a costly ballot fight that Uber had been bankrolling. What crash victims actually got is a mixed bag. Some parts of SB 623 clarify insurance coverage in ways that help you. Other parts change how medical liens work and how quickly insurers can push you toward a settlement. If you have a pending rideshare claim, or you are about to file one, you need to understand what changed and what did not.
At Reardon Injury Law, we have been tracking this bill since it was introduced. Our founding attorney, John Reardon, spent 20 years as a chiropractor before becoming a personal injury lawyer, which means we look at rideshare cases from both the medical and legal angles. Here is what we are telling clients right now.
What SB 623 Actually Changes
SB 623 is a compromise, which means nobody got everything they wanted. The core changes affect three areas of rideshare injury claims: liability during different phases of a ride, medical lien handling, and the timing of settlement communications.
First, the bill formalizes the existing tiered insurance structure for rideshare drivers but adds new documentation requirements that carriers must meet before disputing coverage. When a rideshare driver has the app off, their personal auto policy applies. When the app is on but no ride has been accepted, contingent liability coverage kicks in at lower limits. Once a ride is accepted or a passenger is in the vehicle, the full $1 million commercial policy applies. SB 623 did not change those tiers, but it did tighten the rules for how insurers must document and disclose which phase the driver was in at the moment of the crash.
Second, the bill introduces new procedures for medical liens tied to rideshare injury cases. Providers who treat crash victims on a lien basis now face stricter disclosure requirements, and there are new caps on how much of a settlement can be consumed by lien reductions in certain fact patterns. This is where the compromise gets complicated for injury victims.
Third, SB 623 places new timing requirements on rideshare insurers regarding when they can and cannot initiate settlement discussions with unrepresented claimants. This is meant to reduce the pressure-cooker tactic of getting an injured passenger to sign a release before they have seen the full extent of their injuries.
The Coverage Question: Which Policy Pays
The biggest practical issue in most rideshare crashes is figuring out which insurance policy covers your injuries. This has been a mess since Uber and Lyft first launched in California, and while SB 623 helps, it does not eliminate the problem.
Under the tiered system, the phase of the ride at the moment of impact controls everything. If the driver who hit you was logged into the app and had just accepted a ride, you may have access to $1 million in liability coverage. If they were logged in but had not accepted a ride, coverage drops significantly. If the app was off, you are dealing with a standard personal auto policy, which in California may only carry the state minimum of $30,000 in bodily injury coverage under the current financial responsibility laws.
SB 623 requires rideshare companies and their insurers to produce app data confirming the driver’s status within a defined timeframe after a claim is opened. Before this bill, we routinely fought for months to get that data. Now there is a statutory pathway, though we expect insurers to test the limits of what they must disclose.
What this means for you: preserve everything. If you were a passenger, screenshot your ride receipt, the driver’s name, the vehicle, and the trip details. If you were in another vehicle hit by a rideshare driver, note whether the driver had a rideshare decal, whether their phone was mounted on the dash, and whether they mentioned being on a trip. Witnesses matter here too.
Medical Liens Under the New Rules
The medical lien changes in SB 623 are where things get technical, and where injured people can lose real money if they do not have proper representation.
In most personal injury cases, treating providers will agree to be paid out of the settlement rather than requiring payment upfront. This is a lien arrangement, and it lets injured people get medical care they could not otherwise afford. But liens can also eat a huge chunk of a settlement if they are not managed carefully. In rideshare cases specifically, the pattern we have seen for years is that certain provider networks aggressively market to crash victims, run up large bills, and then negotiate very little at the end.
SB 623 attempts to address this by requiring more transparent lien disclosures and by creating a framework for reducing inflated liens in rideshare claims where the total billed amount is disproportionate to the actual care provided. The bill also puts guardrails on referral relationships between attorneys and providers in rideshare cases.
Because John Reardon spent two decades treating accident patients before practicing law, we can look at a treatment plan and quickly identify what was medically necessary, what was overkill, and what the reasonable value of the care really is. That matters more than ever under SB 623, because the new lien reduction procedures reward claimants who can document appropriate, well-reasoned treatment and penalize those with inflated bills that cannot be defended.
Practical takeaway: choose your medical providers carefully after a rideshare crash. High-volume clinics that specialize in personal injury treatment on a lien basis are not always the best option. Get treatment that fits your actual injuries and is properly documented, and your net recovery will typically be higher.
What the New Settlement Timing Rules Mean
One of the most consumer-friendly parts of SB 623 addresses a practice we have seen for years. Rideshare insurers, particularly on the passenger injury side, would often contact injured claimants within days of the crash, sometimes while the person was still in the hospital, and offer a fast settlement in exchange for a full release.
Under the new rules, rideshare-affiliated insurers face restrictions on when they can initiate settlement offers to unrepresented claimants, and they must provide specific written disclosures about the claimant’s right to seek legal advice before signing anything. Settlement releases obtained in violation of these rules may be voidable.
This does not stop insurance adjusters from calling you. It just means the pressure tactic of the immediate lowball offer has some new legal exposure attached to it. In practice, we expect insurers to comply with the letter of the rule while still trying to move claims quickly. If you get a call from an Uber or Lyft insurance representative, the safest response has not changed: you are not comfortable discussing the claim without your attorney present.
What to Watch For in Your Rideshare Case Right Now
If you have an open rideshare injury claim, or you were recently injured in a rideshare crash, here are the specific issues we are watching under the new law:
- Documentation of ride status. Demand the app data early. Do not accept an insurer’s characterization of which coverage tier applies without seeing the underlying records.
- Coverage stacking with UM/UIM. If the rideshare policy limits are not enough, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may come into play. California courts continue to enforce UM/UIM claims under Insurance Code Section 11580.2, and SB 623 does not change that.
- Medical lien scrutiny. Understand what your providers are billing and what the reasonable value of that care actually is. Under the new rules, well-documented, medically appropriate treatment is easier to defend.
- Statute of limitations. The two-year deadline under Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1 still applies. SB 623 did not extend it. If a government entity is somehow involved, the six-month claim deadline under the Government Claims Act still applies.
- Release language. Any release you are asked to sign under SB 623’s new framework should be reviewed carefully. Broad releases can extinguish claims against parties you did not intend to release.
- Comparative fault arguments. California’s pure comparative negligence rule under Civil Code Section 1714 still lets insurers try to shift blame to you. Rideshare crashes often involve complicated intersection facts, and the driver’s app distraction is frequently a key issue.
The Bottom Line for Rideshare Crash Victims
SB 623 was sold as a compromise, and it is. Some pieces of the law make it easier for injured Californians to get information and to avoid the worst pressure tactics from rideshare insurers. Other pieces, particularly on the medical lien side, add complexity that favors well-represented claimants over unrepresented ones. If you try to handle a rideshare claim on your own under this new framework, you are more likely to leave money on the table than you were before.
Rideshare cases have always been more complicated than a standard two-car collision. There are multiple insurance policies, corporate defendants with sophisticated legal teams, app data disputes, and now a new statutory scheme layered on top of everything. The rideshare companies did not push for this law because it was going to help injured people recover more. They pushed for it because it was better than the ballot fight they were facing.
If you were hurt in a crash involving an Uber or Lyft driver, whether as a passenger, another driver, a pedestrian, or a cyclist, do not try to figure out SB 623 on your own. Call us for a free consultation. We will pull the app data, evaluate your medical treatment, and tell you honestly what your case is worth under the new rules. You pay nothing unless we recover for you. Reach Reardon Injury Law at (657) 522-7122 to talk with our team.