Rideshare Injury Cases: Defeating Arbitration and Winning the Insurance Coverage Fight

Joseph L. Messa, Jr., Founding Partner | Messa Law, P.C

Joseph L. Messa, Jr., is the founding partner of Messa Law, P.C. in Philadelphia, where he represents plaintiffs in catastrophic injury litigation spanning trucking, rideshare, and motor vehicle collisions, product liability, medical malpractice, fires and explosions, and premises liability. Licensed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia, he has recovered verdicts and settlements for injured clients reaching well into nine figures and lectures frequently to attorneys on transportation accidents, products liability, and medical malpractice.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Messa earned his B.A. from Tulane University in 1984, graduating with honors, and his J.D., cum laude, from Temple University School of Law in 1988, where he received the Horace Stern Award for Excellence in Products Liability and the American Jurisprudence Award for Products Liability. He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia. He is board certified in medical malpractice, a Diplomat of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys, an AV-rated attorney under Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating and listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Messa received the 2024 Justice Michael A. Musmanno Award and is a two-time President’s Award recipient. He has been named to Pennsylvania Super Lawyers annually since 2009, including its Top 100 Pennsylvania and Top 100 Philadelphia lists from 2012 through 2026, to New Jersey Super Lawyers annually since 2017, and to Best Lawyers in America for personal injury and products liability annually since 2017. He is an elected Advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers — a society of fewer than 700 members globally — a Top 100 Trial Lawyer with the National Trial Lawyers, and a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums. He was also named among America’s Top 100 Attorneys in 2017 and a Philly Style Magazine Legal Eagle in 2018.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Messa has served on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association since 2006, rising through its officer chairs — Assistant Secretary, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President, and President Elect — to serve as President for the 2015–2016 term. He is a member of the American Association for Justice, the American Bar Association, the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Camden and Burlington County bar associations, the New Jersey Association for Justice, and the Justinian Society; a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; and a member of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice.

• Experience

Mr. Messa’s results for injured clients include a $120 million recovery in the orthopedic bone screw litigation, a $50 million verdict for an Army veteran and Green Beret in the 3M Combat Arms earplug litigation, $35.5 million for two children injured in a fire caused by a defective heating appliance, $35 million in a commercial truck product liability case involving paralysis, $30.55 million in a dram shop case involving two deaths, and $20 million in a motor vehicle wrongful death case. His transportation and worksite results also include an $18.25 million trucking crash recovery for a woman and her infant and an $8.265 million recovery for a construction worker paralyzed in a fall. He presents lectures for attorneys on medical malpractice, products liability, transportation accidents, construction and worksite injuries, and drugs and medical devices.

Farid Yaghoubtil, Founding Partner | Downtown LA Law Group, LLP

Farid Yaghoubtil is a co-founder of Downtown LA Law Group, LLP, a Los Angeles personal injury firm he launched with two partners from a small library conference room. His practice concentrates on rideshare accidents involving Uber and Lyft, catastrophic injuries, severe burn injuries, aviation accidents, motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, premises liability, workplace injuries, and assault and battery claims, all handled on a contingency basis.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Yaghoubtil earned his B.A., cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2005 and his J.D. from Abraham Lincoln University School of Law in 2010. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2012 and practices before all California Superior Courts, the California Courts of Appeal, the U.S. District Courts in California, and the California Supreme Court.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Yaghoubtil was selected to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list each year from 2019 through 2023 and holds a 10.0 “Superb” Avvo rating. His story — from refugee to founding partner of a statewide personal injury firm — has been featured on The Chris Voss Show podcast.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Yaghoubtil is a member of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles and serves as a media commentator on personal injury litigation trends, rideshare safety and liability, and aviation accident litigation. His practice serves clients in English, Spanish, Armenian, Farsi, Arabic, and Hebrew.

• Experience

Practicing personal injury law since 2012, Mr. Yaghoubtil has built Downtown LA Law Group into a statewide practice, with its principal office in Los Angeles and consultation locations across California, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego, Orange County, Oxnard, Pasadena, Modesto, Victorville, and Bakersfield. His results for injured clients include a $22 million settlement in a brain injury case and multiple seven-figure recoveries in truck, auto, and rideshare matters. He describes his approach as fighting for the client no matter what and never giving up on helping those who need it the most, treating every case as personal and every client as special.

SESSION 1 – Keeping Your Rideshare Injury Case Out of Arbitration | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session examines the arbitration architecture Uber and Lyft deploy against injured claimants and equips plaintiff’s attorneys with every viable judicial pathway to defeat or avoid it. Attendees will analyze the delegation clause trap exposed in Wu v. Uber, the EFAA carve-out for sexual assault claims, third-party standing arguments, and cross-platform acceptance pitfalls. Attorneys will leave with a concrete intake checklist and a sequenced litigation strategy for challenging arbitration from the first client call through dispositive motion practice.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Getting to the $1 Million Policy After a Rideshare Crash | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session teaches plaintiffs’ attorneys how to identify, access, and maximize rideshare insurance coverage after a crash — from decoding the TNC coverage-period architecture to defeating multi-insurer finger-pointing and navigating the post-SB 371 UM/UIM landscape. Attorneys will learn the evidentiary steps required to prove Period 2 or Period 3 status, the critical exclusions that gut coverage even when a policy exists, and how Uber’s RICO counteroffensive reshapes litigation risk for the entire plaintiffs’ bar. Attendees leave with a framework for stacking all available coverage sources and a checklist for immediate post-crash preservation demands.