Taxi and Yellow Cab Accident Lawyer 2026: TLC Medallions, No-Fault PIP, and the Commercial Auto Layer

The 100/300 limit is the ceiling nobody thinks about until it’s too late

There is a stubborn myth that a New York yellow cab has effectively unlimited coverage because it’s a commercial vehicle. It doesn’t. The base TLC-required limits on a yellow cab are 100/300 for bodily injury and 10 for property damage. Multiply a broken ankle, a wrist surgery, and a mild concussion across two passengers and you’re already at the ceiling, and the fight for the rest of the case shifts to who else is on the hook.

My read is that the single most important early move in a taxi case is to map the coverage stack before you argue about damages. Coverage in a taxi claim is not one policy; it’s a layered system: the fleet’s commercial auto policy at the bottom, the medallion owner’s vicarious exposure and personal assets above that, an umbrella or excess policy above that (if any), and the other vehicle’s insurance sitting parallel if a third car was at fault. Everyone chasing a good recovery is really working that stack.

This guide is aimed at anyone hurt in a US taxi, yellow cab, or for-hire vehicle crash, and at the family members who end up doing the paperwork for them: passengers, pedestrians and cyclists, other motorists, and taxi drivers themselves. It covers the TLC and city regulations that decide what coverage exists, the no-fault PIP filing order, the commercial auto limits by city, how contingency fees really work, and where taxi cases diverge from rideshare (Uber and Lyft) cases in ways that matter.

👉 For the specifically rideshare side of this comparison, Rideshare (Uber and Lyft) accident lawyer guide covers the app-Period structure in depth and reads naturally alongside this one.

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Why for-hire vehicles carry commercial coverage from the moment they’re licensed

For-hire vehicle regulation in the US is a city-level, not federal, matter. New York City sets its rules through the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). Chicago runs through the Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Department (BACP). Las Vegas taxis are supervised by the Nevada Taxicab Authority. Los Angeles taxis answer to the LA Department of Transportation.

Every one of these regulators does the same two things. First, they license both the vehicle and the driver (in NYC that’s a medallion on the car and a TLC hack license on the person). Second, they mandate a minimum commercial auto liability policy, at limits much higher than a private passenger auto policy, that covers passengers, pedestrians, and third-party vehicles.

The practical consequence is that a for-hire vehicle looks nothing like an Uber for coverage purposes. An Uber driver in Period 0 (app off) is running on personal auto only, and personal policies usually exclude livery use. A licensed yellow cab, by contrast, carries the required commercial policy essentially continuously; whether the cab was between fares or actively carrying a passenger rarely changes the coverage answer. What changes the answer are things like the medallion owner’s identity, whether the driver was on-duty, and whether an excess policy exists.

That’s the good news. The bad news is what I opened with: those mandated limits are set at levels that may not cover a serious accident. Which is why the coverage stack matters so much.

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Minimum commercial auto limits by city

City-level minimums matter because they establish the floor. Real policies often carry higher limits, particularly for luxury livery, black car, and airport-service operators.

City / regulator	Bodily injury (BIL)	Property damage	PIP or MedPay	Notes
New York yellow cab (TLC)	100/300 (per person / per accident)	10	50 PIP (no-fault)	UM/UIM 100/300 required
New York livery / black car (TLC FHV)	100/300 minimum; real policies often 1.5M to 5M CSL	100	50 PIP	Higher tier for pre-arranged for-hire
Chicago taxi (BACP)	350 CSL (combined single limit)	Included in CSL	None (Illinois not no-fault)	UM required at state minimum
Las Vegas taxi (Nevada Taxicab Authority)	250/500 CSL	25	15 MedPay	UM 15 additional
Los Angeles taxi (LADOT)	350 CSL or higher	Included	None (California not no-fault)	Regulatory suspension for lapse

Figures in thousands of dollars. “100/300” means 100k per injured person, 300k per accident.

Two observations. First, the New York yellow cab minimum of 100/300 is objectively low for a dense urban environment where cabs interact constantly with pedestrians. Second, cities like Chicago and LA moved to combined single limits, which mechanically increases the practical ceiling because there is no separate per-person cap eating up the pot.

When injuries are severe, the first tactical move is a policy limit demand letter early in the case. This puts the base carrier on notice of the ceiling and starts the clock on potential bad-faith exposure if they low-ball or refuse to tender. In parallel, discovery is used to identify what sits above: an excess policy, an umbrella, the medallion owner’s personal assets, or a corporate parent’s coverage.

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Passenger claims: the strongest position at the table

A taxi passenger did not cause the crash. That single fact makes them the strongest claimant in the case.

In no-fault states (New York, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and others), the sequence is:

1. File a PIP application through the taxi’s no-fault carrier within the state deadline (30 days in NY on the NF-2 form).
2. Run initial medical bills and part of lost wages through PIP up to the state’s basic limit (50k in NY, expandable to 175k with additional PIP options).
3. Once the injury clears the state’s serious injury threshold (in NY, Insurance Law 5102(d): death, dismemberment, significant limitation, or 90/180-day substantial impairment), open a tort claim against the taxi’s commercial BIL policy for pain and suffering and excess damages.

In non-no-fault states (Illinois, Nevada, California, Texas), the PIP layer doesn’t exist and the passenger goes straight to the commercial policy. Out-of-pocket medical bills are handled through hospital liens or health insurance subrogation, and California passengers may run MedPay first if their driver carried it.

The passenger’s leverage comes from three factors. Comparative fault is essentially zero. A recovery path exists no matter which car was at fault, because the passenger can pivot from the taxi’s policy to the other car’s carrier to the taxi’s UM/UIM if the other car is uninsured. And in a two-car crash, the passenger can potentially stack recoveries.

👉 When a passenger crash involves a serious head impact, damages calculation shifts substantially. The traumatic brain injury (TBI) settlement lawyer guide walks through injury grading and its effect on settlement value.

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Pedestrian, cyclist, and other-motorist claims

Not as broad as a passenger’s, but the paths are clear.

Pedestrians and cyclists. Counterintuitively, in no-fault states a pedestrian struck by a taxi is entitled to PIP through that taxi’s own no-fault policy. New York’s Insurance Law pulls “pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle” into the vehicle’s no-fault coverage. Once the serious-injury threshold is met, the pedestrian pursues a tort claim against the driver, fleet, and medallion owner. In fatal or catastrophic pedestrian cases, the 100/300 limit gets used up fast, and the case becomes an asset and excess-policy hunt.

Other-vehicle occupants. In a no-fault state, run through your own PIP first, then bring a tort claim against the taxi’s commercial policy if the injury clears the threshold. If your UIM sits above the taxi’s limit, top-up recovery comes from your own carrier. In non-no-fault states, you go direct to the at-fault carrier from the start.

Shared fault. A comparative fault regime allocates responsibility. New York and California follow pure comparative fault (you can recover even at high fault, reduced by your share). Illinois and Nevada follow modified comparative fault with a 51 percent bar. Texas follows a 51 percent modified rule. The rule of the state where the crash happened determines whether a mixed-fault case is worth pursuing at all.

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Taxi drivers who are hurt: three distinct paths

Drivers are the most operationally exposed party and their claim path is the most complex.

If the driver is a W-2 employee of a taxi fleet (less common with yellow cabs, more common with airport shuttle and paratransit), workers’ compensation is the primary route. Medical is covered, wage-loss benefits pay roughly two-thirds of the wage subject to state caps, and the exclusive-remedy rule bars a tort suit against the employer.

If the driver is a 1099 independent contractor (the norm for NYC yellow cab drivers), there is no workers’ comp coverage. In New York, the driver files under the taxi’s own no-fault PIP for initial medical bills and lost wages, because TLC requires fleet policies to include driver PIP coverage. In non-no-fault states without such a requirement, the driver falls back on personal auto MedPay.

If the other vehicle is at fault, the driver adds a tort claim against that carrier. If that party is uninsured, the taxi’s UM/UIM opens up. The common trap: an at-fault carrier makes a fast, small settlement offer to secure a release before the driver has coordinated it with workers’ comp or PIP subrogation liens. Signing that release cuts into the take-home once the subrogation lien is repaid.

Driver status	Primary coverage	Secondary	Third
W-2 employee (fleet)	Workers’ compensation	Tort claim vs at-fault party	Taxi UM/UIM if uninsured
1099 in a no-fault state (e.g., NY owner-driver)	Taxi no-fault PIP	Tort claim vs at-fault party	Taxi UM/UIM
1099 in a non-no-fault state	Personal auto MedPay	Tort claim vs at-fault party	Own UIM

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Who is the right defendant? The four-defendant map

Taxi cases have this many defendants because the operating economics separate ownership, the operating license, and the driver into different parties.

1. The taxi driver personally. The direct-fault defendant. Realistic personal assets are usually limited, though.
2. The fleet or garage. The corporation that assigned the vehicle and holds the commercial policy. It’s the named insured. Vicarious liability, negligent hiring, and negligent supervision are the theories.
3. The medallion owner. Under statutes like NY V&T Law 388, the vehicle owner is liable for a permissive user’s negligence. Medallion owners frequently hold significant separate assets; they may be individual investors or LLCs that pledged the medallion as collateral for a loan.
4. The other vehicle’s driver and their carrier. If a third car contributed to the crash, that carrier is on the claim in parallel.

The single most valuable target is usually the fleet’s commercial auto policy. When that limit is inadequate, the game becomes discovering the medallion owner’s assets, any umbrella policy layered on top, and any corporate parent coverage. That excavation work at the discovery stage is where experienced counsel earns their fee.

👉 The discovery choreography for piercing multi-layer coverage is similar in commercial trucking; the truck accident attorney settlement guide walks through FMCSA records and excess-policy hunts that are analogous to what taxi cases require.

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Contingency fees and case costs: six clauses to read carefully

The US personal-injury standard is contingency: no fee unless you recover, with a fixed percentage of recovery paid to counsel at conclusion.

Item	Typical range	Note
Pre-suit settlement	About 33.3% of recovery	Most common tier
Post-filing / trial	About 40%	Reflects the litigation load
Case costs	Deducted separately	Records, expert fees, court filings, deposition transcripts
Fee if no recovery	0	The core of contingency; verify who owes the costs
Gross vs net basis	Contract-specific	Gross (fee before costs) reduces client take-home; net is friendlier
Medical lien negotiation	Skill matters	Hospital liens and health-insurance subrogation are negotiable down

Three clauses in the retainer deserve a slow read. First, whether the percentage applies to gross recovery or net recovery after case costs. Second, whether case costs are recoverable from the client if there is no recovery, or whether the firm swallows them. Third, how the firm handles medical lien negotiation, because reducing an ERISA-plan subrogation or a hospital lien often adds more to the client’s take-home than shaving fee percentage points.

Fee caps that apply in medical malpractice generally don’t apply in auto/taxi cases. That makes the retainer itself, not any statute, the document that controls what you keep.

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No-fault vs at-fault states: the underlying rules change everything

The state where the crash happens changes the entire claim architecture. A state-specific lawyer is not a nice-to-have; it is required.

No-fault states. PIP fires first, with strict filing deadlines (30 days in NY). Serious-injury thresholds must be met before a tort claim opens. NY Insurance Law 5102(d), FL Statute 627.737, MI 500.3135, and NJ 39:6A-8 each define the threshold in different words with different case law.

At-fault states. No PIP layer. Direct claim against the at-fault carrier. Own MedPay, if any, goes first with subrogation on the tort recovery. California is a pure comparative fault state, so plaintiffs can recover with high fault percentages.

Statute of limitations. Two to three years is typical (NY 3, CA 2, IL 2, FL currently 2 after 2023 reform, TX 2). If the taxi or vehicle is city- or state-owned, or a public entity is involved, notice-of-claim deadlines are dramatically shorter (NYC: 90 days). Missing the notice deadline extinguishes the claim entirely, before the statute of limitations ever runs.

👉 When a taxi crash ends in a death, the calculation and defendant map shift to the wrongful-death framework; the wrongful death lawsuit settlement guide covers dependency loss and the survival action that runs in parallel.

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What to do in the first 24 hours, in order

1. Safety and treatment first. If anyone is injured, 911. A medical record is your first evidence.
2. Call the police. The official report is the primary record of fault and facts. NY requires police response on any injury crash.
3. Capture the taxi’s identity. The medallion number printed on the roof, the TLC hack license number, the license plate, and the driver’s name and contact. In Chicago, get the chauffeur license number.
4. Document the scene. Photograph vehicle damage, traffic signal state, road conditions, witness contacts.
5. File PIP and get counsel. In a no-fault state, file the PIP application within the deadline. Speak with a personal injury lawyer before giving any recorded statement to a fleet investigator or insurer.

Step 3 is what separates a taxi case from an ordinary two-car crash. The medallion number is the key to identifying every possible defendant. Missing it and trying to reconstruct later through discovery is painful.

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Six common mistakes that quietly cost recovery

One, giving a fleet investigator a recorded statement. The friendly call from the taxi company the day after is an adjuster’s opening move. Anything you say becomes a variance point later.

Two, missing the PIP deadline. In no-fault states, the 30-day PIP filing window is unforgiving. Miss it and the entire first layer of medical coverage disappears.

Three, signing the first offer. Almost always a low anchor. Wait for maximum medical improvement (MMI) at minimum.

Four, stopping treatment. Discontinuities are gold to the defense: “you weren’t hurt that badly.”

Five, naming the wrong defendants. Suing only the fleet and missing the medallion owner cuts the ceiling on recovery in a big case.

Six, missing the notice-of-claim deadline. For any city- or state-owned vehicle, the notice deadline (often 90 days) extinguishes the claim if missed.

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How to pick a taxi accident lawyer

• Real experience with for-hire vehicle cases. Does the lawyer understand the TLC’s regulations, the medallion-owner discovery, and no-fault threshold litigation?
• Retainer clarity. Are the 33 to 40 percent tiers, gross vs net basis, and case-cost handling written out clearly?
• Trial experience. Adjusters treat trial lawyers differently from pure settlement shops. Ask about actual verdicts.
• Lien negotiation track record. The difference between an average and a strong lawyer often shows up in the final take-home, driven by aggressive hospital lien and ERISA subrogation cuts.
• Communication. A firm that updates you regularly is a firm that’s actually working the file.
• Free consultation. Most offer one. Interview two or three, compare, and decide.

👉 The commercial-carrier and duty-of-care framework overlaps closely with charter buses; the bus accident catastrophic injury attorney guide and the sibling charter bus accident lawyer guide both walk through common-carrier duties that carry over.

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Related reading

• Rideshare (Uber and Lyft) accident lawyer guide 2026
• Truck accident attorney settlement guide 2026
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) settlement lawyer guide 2026
• Wrongful death lawsuit settlement guide 2026
• Bus accident catastrophic injury attorney guide 2026

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This article is general information and not legal advice. Coverage, defendants, deadlines, and injury thresholds in a taxi or for-hire vehicle accident depend on the state and city where the crash occurred, the policy language, and the specific facts. For any particular case, consult a personal injury lawyer licensed in the state where the crash happened.