Uber Sued for Abandoning Passenger, Resulting in Violent Sexual Assault
A lawsuit has been filed against San Francisco-based Uber Technologies, Inc. for its failure to safely drop-off a 23-year-old woman to her scheduled destination at home, in Rosemont. Uber’s failure to safely drop her off as promised, and failure to properly train its drivers, among other failures, resulted in a violent sexual assault and the worst nightmare of plaintiff, Jane Doe’s, life.
Jane Doe left a concert in Sacramento on the evening of May 28, after a night of drinking and fun, choosing to call Uber for a ride home. During the car ride, Jane Doe became ill and vomited. As subsequently admitted to Jane Doe’s mother, the driver became frustrated at that time because Jane Doe vomited and the driver had experienced another passenger doing the same recently, so he simply decided to dump Jane Doe near a random gas station parking lot, in front of an abandoned building, many miles from home. She was dumped, at night, in Sacramento, in a high crime area. Even worse, the driver could clearly see that Jane Doe was in a vulnerable state after consuming alcohol, and in his haste, kicked her out so quickly, that her cell phone and keys were left behind in the vehicle.
Subsequently, as she stood in the parking lot of the gas station, Jane Doe was approached by a man and woman who said they would help her get home if she paid them. Jane Doe, scared and desperate, and with no phone, got in their vehicle, but was not taken home. Instead the two took her to an apartment, where the man sexually assaulted her at knife point. The next morning, petrified, when her assailant appeared to be sound asleep, Jane Doe made the decision to try to escape out of a window and was able to flee to a nearby school. She was taken to the hospital and met by the authorities. A criminal investigation is ongoing.
The suit alleges that Uber failed to safely transport Jane Doe to her promised destination and Uber failed to properly train and supervise its drivers, including her driver that night. The Uber driver left a young vulnerable woman alone, at an unsafe location of its choosing, without her phone (and no means to call another Uber ride), in a confused and scared state. The suit alleges that the driver’s route indicates he even circled the area for a bit, coming within a mile of at least safer venues (like a hospital) before dumping her near a gas station in front of an abandoned building. The lawsuit alleges that it was foreseeable that Uber’s failures, including its driver’s unilateral decision to dump Jane Doe as he did, would lead to a third party harming Jane Doe.
The lawsuit further alleges that Uber advertises it will deliver a passenger from Point A to Point B but failed even to do that. Moreover, Uber advertises specifically to passengers who have been drinking. For example, it touts its partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Anheuser-Busch, among other organizations, leading campaigns to advertise to transport passengers as a purportedly safe option to drinking and driving—thus, profiting from passengers who have been drinking.
The lawsuit alleges that situations of a passenger becoming ill after drinking are clearly par for the course for Uber, which is why it has a policy to charge passengers for clean-up associated with such situations. But despite this, Jane Doe’s driver simply chose to dump her in a random and unsafe location. The lawsuit further alleges that Uber passengers over the years have suffered sexual assaults, in various contexts, and Uber has more recently made promises regarding women’s safety, and safety in general. Uber has also over the years tried to clean up its image and touted “we do the right thing. period”, under its current CEO, yet clearly, Jane Doe learned that is not the case. In fact, when Jane Doe’s mother contacted Uber and reported what had occurred, Uber did nothing to help Jane Doe and utterly failed to take the situation seriously. It did not escalate the incident, indicate it would investigate the incident or take any further action. Instead, Uber merely sent a generic email with information about contacting sexual assault hotlines. Jane Doe decided to file a lawsuit to hold Uber accountable and avoid this happening to anyone else.
Sarvenaz (Nazy) Fahimi, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy representing Jane Doe, added:
“Nobody should have to go through what she went through. Uber utterly failed to deliver the most basic duties it owed to this young woman. Even worse, Uber didn’t care when the incident was reported. While Uber advertises to passengers who drink and heavily profits from such passengers, it cannot arbitrarily abandon them—Uber cannot have it both ways. None of us want our daughters, friends or family members to ever be treated this way.”
Regina Wang, attorney at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy represeing Jane Doe, added:
“Uber advertises itself as a safe service for people who have been drinking, but what happened to our client shows that an Uber ride can put such vulnerable passengers directly in harm’s way. What happened to our client as a result of her Uber ride is truly horrific, and this lawsuit seeks to hold Uber accountable for allowing its passengers to be abandoned.”