Uber not liable for sexual assault, court decides

“Bellweather” litigation the start of multiple suits

Uber is not liable for the sexual assault of a woman who said she was attacked by her driver on a ride she ordered from the ridesharing app, a California jury said on Tuesday, according to an attorney for the plaintiff and as reported by Reuters News Agency.

Uber has maintained it should not be liable for criminal conduct by the drivers it connects with passengers, and that its background checks and disclosures about assaults were sufficient.

At the end of a three-week civil trial in San Francisco Superior Court, the jury found that Uber was negligent in terms of the measures it put in place to protect the anonymous woman’s safety, Reuters reports, but found that the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the woman’s harm, according to Celine Cutter, one of her lawyers.

The case was the first to go to trial out of more than 500 lawsuits consolidated in California state court. There are also more than 2,500 lawsuits making similar claims that have been centralized in a federal court in California.

The woman, who went by Jessica C. at trial, sued in 2021, claiming she was assaulted by an Uber driver in 2016. During the ride, her driver pulled off on a side street, restraining, groping and kissing her, according to her attorneys.

“Uber has worked for years to raise the bar on safety, and will continue to do so in the years ahead,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement.

The woman’s lawsuit was chosen to serve as the first “bellwether” for the state court litigation. In litigation with many plaintiffs asserting similar claims, bellwether trials are used to test the claims and establish what they may be worth. Judges may use the outcome of the trial to manage the remaining cases, or lawyers can use them to inform settlement negotiations.

The lawsuits allege that Uber kept data on how many assaults took place from the public and did not take action to address the issue.