Statement by Kathy Byrne, President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association regarding the enactment of House Bill 2231

For nearly 8 years, rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft operating in Illinois have benefitted from a unique loophole in the law that has exempted those companies and their agents from the “common carrier doctrine”, which applies to all other carriers (buses, airplanes, trains, taxis and others) that provide for-hire livery services to passengers. The common carrier doctrine holds that these operators and their agents owe passengers the “highest duty of care” in ensuring safety of their operation and is grounded in the recognition that passengers surrender control of their safety to such operators when they utilize these transportation services.

The enactment of House Bill 2231 removes the special common carrier exemption that was granted to the rideshare industry in 2015 and ensures that all for-hire livery operators in Illinois are held to the same safety standard.

We applaud Governor Pritzker for enacting this common-sense safety measure, and we thank the sponsors Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz and Senator Rob Martwick for championing this bill through the legislative process, and the host of co-sponsors and supporters in the General Assembly that helped put consumer safety ahead of corporate profits. 

Rideshare services are a convenient option for Illinois consumers, and certainly have a place in the menu of options for passengers seeking transportation services. Eight years ago, rideshare services were fledgling companies taking on an established industry; today, in many locations, rideshares are the industry. The enactment of this bill strikes an important balance of helping ensure the safe operation of rideshare companies, while allowing those companies to continue to thrive in the marketplace. 

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