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Get the exam first. It is free, it does not require a police report, and for an adult it is available within 120 hours. The Houston hospitals that perform it are listed on our Houston SANE exam locations page, and our what to do now page walks through the first days in order.
If you are able to, report to the police now. You are not required to, but the same early evidence that builds a prosecution builds a civil claim.
Then call 713-521-0059, or message us, and say it happened this week. We will tell you what your case needs and get it started, beginning with written notice to whoever holds the video and records so it is kept. There is no guaranteed response time, but we typically respond within 12 to 24 hours of a call or message.
Yes, in most cases. You can have a claim against the driver for the assault itself, and you may also have a separate negligence claim against the company, such as Uber or Lyft. That second claim is about what the company knew, what it screened for, and what it did with complaints it had already received.
The step that cannot wait is preserving the company’s records. The trip data, the in-app messages and the driver’s platform history sit on company servers, subject to the company’s own retention policies, and you do not hold any of it. Call 713-521-0059 so a preservation demand can go out before those records are archived.
Your claim against the driver is for the assault itself. Under Section 16.0045 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, a claim arising from conduct violating Penal Code Section 22.011(a)(1) or 22.021(a)(1)(A) carries a five-year limitations period. Where the survivor was a child, the period is thirty years. The driver is one defendant, but an individual driver may have little ability to pay a judgment. That practical reality is one reason the claim against the company usually matters so much.
Often, yes. You got into a stranger’s car because an application vouched for that stranger. When that vouching fails, your claim against the company is a negligence claim in its own right, not a claim that the company committed the assault. These claims generally center on four things:
Rideshare companies contest whether their drivers are employees or independent contractors, and that dispute shapes which legal theories are available to you. It usually does not eliminate the direct negligence claims, because those claims concern the company’s own conduct rather than the driver’s.
The trip record shows the pickup and drop-off points, the timestamps, the route driven, and any deviation from it. The company also holds the in-app messages between you and the driver, along with the driver’s history on the platform, including prior complaints from other riders and how each complaint was resolved.
It keeps the background check records, the identity of the vendor who performed them, the deactivation records and the GPS telemetry. None of this information is in your possession, so a preservation demand should go to the company early. If you report through the app, screenshot the report and the confirmation before anything is archived.
A sexual assault forensic examination in Texas is provided at no cost to you, and it does not require a report to law enforcement or a decision to press charges. For an adult who arrives within 120 hours of the assault, or later on a referral, a hospital or clinic that treats sexual assault patients must conduct the examination on your consent. The Attorney General pays for it (Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 56A.303 to 56A.305).
Preserving your clothing matters, because the physical evidence of an assault is time-sensitive in the same way the application records are. Reporting to law enforcement is your decision, and a civil claim does not depend on it. Choosing not to report usually does not end a civil case. Our page on evidence after a sexual assault goes through what to keep.
Not necessarily, and it depends on your facts. Rideshare terms of service typically include an arbitration agreement, and companies often try to move these claims out of court. Whether that clause applies to a claim like yours, and whether it is enforceable against you in particular, is a live and contested question. The answer can turn on the version of the terms in force, the specific claims pleaded, and developments in state and federal law. It is one of the first issues a lawyer should look at. Our page on arbitration clauses explains more.
The five-year period in Section 16.0045 covers your claim arising from the assault itself. A negligence claim against the company usually runs on the ordinary, shorter personal injury period, although the facts decide which period applies. Because the two deadlines can differ significantly, it helps to ask about your dates early. Our page on how long you have to sue covers the details.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Most of this evidence lives on the company’s servers, which is the reason speed matters in a rideshare case. You cannot collect it yourself, but you can protect what is already on your phone. Save your screenshots, your trip receipt and any messages before the application updates or deletes them.
We start by sending a preservation demand to the company, because the trip record and the driver’s history usually decide your claim. Then we examine the arbitration clause and the version of the terms of service you accepted. We represent riders in civil claims arising from rideshare assaults in Houston and across Texas.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people and survivors across Texas.
If you are an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question. We will not ask you for their name.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
In many cases, yes. Claims against the company are usually framed as negligent hiring, retention, supervision and failure to warn. The driver is one defendant, and a driver may have little ability to pay.
It is a real obstacle. Whether it applies depends on the version of the terms you accepted and the claims pleaded.
Trip data and app records sit on company servers and are subject to retention policies. A preservation letter should go out early.
In most cases, no. A civil claim does not usually require a report, an arrest, a charge or a conviction. What your claim does need is evidence, and most of it is in the platform's own records.
No. A sexual assault forensic examination in Texas is provided at no cost to you, and it does not require a report to law enforcement. For an adult who arrives within 120 hours, or later on a referral, the Attorney General pays for it.
Section 16.0045 gives five years for a claim arising from conduct violating Penal Code Section 22.011(a)(1) or 22.021(a)(1)(A), and thirty years where the survivor was a child. A claim against the company may run on a shorter period, so ask about your dates.