On August 26, 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals found that, for direct action purposes, Georgia’s Motor Carrier Act includes rideshare companies. This ruling came in the form of plaintiff’s interlocutory appeal of the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a rideshare company’s liability insurer for an accident that occurred in June of 2020. Georgia’s Motor Carrier Act allows a plaintiff to add the Motor Carrier’s insurer as a named defendant in a case, which is contrary to the general rule disallowing a direct action against a liability insurer. This is obviously unwelcome news as the Motor Carrier Act is designed for commercial trucking cases and specifically excludes other forms of transportation for hire such as taxis or other forms of ridesharing (such as government authorized carpools).

However, it may not be quite as bad as it seems. This ruling does not create any new regulatory framework or requirements for rideshare drivers that would be applicable to trucking companies such as driver logs, pre-trip inspections, and mandatory drug tests after accidents. Further, effective July 1, 2024, the statute under which the Court of Appeals based its decision has changed. Under the new version of the statute, plaintiffs may only join insurers of motor carriers to lawsuits when the motor carrier is insolvent/bankrupt or either the motor carrier or the driver cannot be personally served (O.C.G.A. § 40-1-112(c)). Therefore, under the current version of the statute, a plaintiff may not add a TNC’s liability insurer as a matter of course, but they may do so if the driver cannot be found and served after “reasonable diligence.”