Hit by an Amazon Delivery Van: Who Is Liable and Who Pays

The vans carrying the Amazon logo are, in most cases, operated by delivery service partners: small and mid-sized companies that contract with Amazon to run delivery routes from its stations. The drivers are employees of those companies, wear the uniform, drive vans that are leased through the program, and follow routes generated by Amazon's software. The company carries commercial auto liability insurance as a condition of its contract, usually with limits well above the state minimum for a private driver, and that policy is the first source of recovery.

Amazon also delivers through Flex, a program in which individuals use their own cars to deliver packages during scheduled blocks, in the manner of a rideshare driver. Flex drivers are independent contractors with their own personal auto policies, and commercial coverage provided through the program applies while the driver is actively delivering. The structure resembles an Uber or Lyft claim: which policy applies depends on what the driver was doing when the crash occurred.

A smaller share of deliveries are made by Amazon's own employees and by third-party carriers such as UPS, USPS and FedEx. The first task in any delivery van claim is to identify the actual operator from the police report, the van's registration and the driver's employer, because it determines whose insurer handles the claim and what coverage exists.

The contractor model is designed to place liability with the delivery company, and Amazon's position in litigation has been that the drivers are not its employees and it does not control how they drive. Injured people have argued the opposite: that Amazon dictates the route, the number of stops, the delivery windows and the pace, monitors drivers through in-van cameras and handheld devices, and penalizes companies whose drivers fall behind, so that the control an employer exercises exists in substance even if the paperwork says otherwise.

Courts have reached different conclusions on these claims, and the law in this area is unsettled and varies by state. Some cases have allowed negligence claims against Amazon to proceed on theories of control, negligent selection of the contractor, or negligent setting of delivery expectations; others have dismissed them. An attorney evaluates whether the facts and the state's law support bringing Amazon in, which matters most when the delivery company's policy is insufficient for a serious injury.

What is not in doubt is that the delivery company is responsible for its employee's driving under ordinary respondeat superior principles, and for its own hiring, training, supervision and vehicle maintenance. A claim that a company put an unqualified or exhausted driver on the road, or failed to maintain a van's brakes, is a direct claim against the company in addition to the claim for the driver's negligence.

Suppose a branded delivery van pulled out from a curb without signaling and struck your car in the adjacent lane. You suffered a fractured wrist and a neck injury requiring months of therapy, with $47,000 in medical bills and nine weeks off work. The police report identified the driver as an employee of a delivery company contracted to Amazon, and the van's registration confirmed it.

The claim was presented to the delivery company's commercial auto insurer, which carried a $1 million policy. An attorney sent a preservation letter within the week for the van's camera footage, the route and delivery timestamps for that day, and the driver's hours and performance records. The footage showed the driver checking a handheld device as he pulled out; the route data showed he was forty minutes behind schedule with sixty stops remaining.

The insurer accepted liability. The claim settled for the medical bills, lost wages and an amount for the injury and its lasting effects, within the policy. Had the injury been catastrophic and the policy insufficient, the attorney would have evaluated a claim against Amazon on the control evidence the route data provided. All figures are hypothetical; the evidence pattern is typical.

Delivery company claims are won on evidence the company holds, which is overwritten quickly.

• Photograph the van, its license plate, any company name or DOT number on the vehicle, and the driver's uniform and handheld device.
• Ask the driver who their employer is and write it down; the police report may list only the driver's name.
• Get the police report number and witness names; delivery crashes often happen on residential streets with neighbors watching.
• Have a preservation letter sent within days to the delivery company and to Amazon for in-van camera footage, route data, delivery timestamps and driver records.
• Get medical care the same day and report every symptom.
• Do not give a recorded statement to the delivery company's insurer or to any third-party claims administrator without advice.
• Report the crash to your own insurer, and check your own policy for medical payments and underinsured motorist coverage in case the delivery company's policy proves insufficient.

The question of Amazon's own liability is decided under state law, and the answer differs. Some states apply a broad test of control that has allowed claims against companies that direct contractors' work in detail; others hold closely to the contractor relationship on paper. The state's law on negligent selection and retention of contractors also varies. This is a developing area, and an attorney in the state where the crash occurred will know how its courts have treated these cases.

Comparative negligence governs any fault assigned to you: pure comparative in California, New York, Arizona, Missouri and others; a 51 percent bar in Texas, Illinois, Florida and most states; a 50 percent bar in Georgia and Tennessee; and contributory negligence, barring recovery for any fault, in Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. No-fault rules in Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey govern which policy pays your initial medical bills and whether a threshold must be met to claim against the van's operator.

Deadlines are the state's injury statute: one year in Tennessee and Kentucky, two in Texas, California, Florida and Georgia, three in New York and North Carolina. Delivery companies are private businesses, so no government notice deadline applies, but the evidence deadline is practical: camera and route data are retained for limited periods, and a preservation letter is the only way to hold them.

Delivery vans injure people outside vehicles at a high rate because they operate on residential streets, stop frequently, reverse, pull out from curbs and double-park. Pedestrians struck by a reversing van, cyclists hit by an opening door, and people hit while the driver was crossing the street on foot with a package are all claims against the delivery company, and often against the driver's conduct in a way that is plainly negligent.

A van parked in a bike lane or blocking a crosswalk that causes a crash is also a claim, even when the van was not moving. Many cities have ticketed delivery companies for these practices, and the citation record can be evidence of a known pattern.

These claims follow the same structure as a collision claim: identify the operator, preserve the footage and route data, and present the claim to the company's commercial insurer. Pedestrians and cyclists generally also have uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under their own household auto policy, which applies when the van's coverage is insufficient.

A delivery van claim starts with identifying the operator and preserving the company's own records, and for a serious injury it may extend to whether Amazon can be held responsible under the state's law. The questions to answer early are who the driver worked for, what the commercial policy limit is, and whether the footage and route data have been preserved. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hit by a delivery van, you can request a free claim review before the company's records are overwritten.

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• Airbag Did Not Deploy in a Crash: Can You Sue, and Whom?
• At Fault in a Car Accident? Comparative Negligence Explained
• What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement? What Sets the Value
• Back and Neck Injury Settlement After a Car Accident: Factors
• Bicycle Accident Claim: Hit by a Car While Riding
• Broken Bone Car Accident Settlement: What Drives the Value

Need local rules? Choose your state from the injury law guides hub or read the statute of limitations by state.