Uber Sued By 500 Women Over Sexual Assault Allegations

Ride hailing giant Uber has been sued by 550 women across the United States, alleging sexual assaults by drivers.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, alleges the women were subjected to various forms of violence from Uber drivers, ranging from rape and sexual assault, through to stalking and even kidnapping.

Two weeks ago the firm had released its second safety report, revealing that sexual assault reported on the platform was down.

Assault lawsuit

But a complaint was filed on Wednesday by attorneys with the Slater Slater Schulman firm in San Francisco County Superior Court.

The law firm said it has about 550 clients with claims against the company, and at least 150 more are being actively investigated.

“As early as 2014, Uber became aware that its drivers were sexually assaulting and raping female passengers; nevertheless, in the eight years since, sexual predators driving for Uber have continued to attack passengers, including the plaintiffs whose claims were alleged in today’s action,” the law firm said.

“Uber’s whole business model is predicated on giving people a safe ride home, but rider safety was never their concern – growth was, at the expense of their passengers’ safety,” alleged Adam Slater, founding partner of Slater Slater Schulman LLP.

“While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences,” alleged Slater.

The lawyers alleged that “Uber’s prioritisation of growth over customer safety – and the resulting horror experienced by many of its passengers – is well-documented.”

Two week ago Uber in its second safety report said it received 3,824 reports of the five most severe categories of sexual assault in 2019 and 2020, ranging from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration,” or rape.

Uber said that reported sexual assaults decreased by 38 percent from its initial report, which covered 2017 and 2018.

It is unclear at the time of writing if the Covid-19 pandemic impacted these numbers, due to dramatic reduction in riders during 2020 and 2021.

And it should be noted that Uber has introduced a number of safety options in recent years, such as screening drivers when they sign up on the platform and once a year after that.

Still, the company has maintained in lawsuits that it can’t be held responsible for its drivers, whom it considers independent contractors rather than employees.

California agreement

In December last year, Uber agreed to pay $9 million (£6.8m) in a settlement over its refusal to provide data to California regulators on sexual assault claims, ending a two-year dispute.

Under that deal the firm will committed to reporting future sexual assault data, using a unique identifier system to protect the identities of those involved.

It said it would create an opt-in process for those who wanted to make more details of an incident available to regulators.

Uber had previously argued that providing details of assaults to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) without the consent of those involved would violate their privacy rights.