Rider Claims Uber Didn't Take Her Claims of Assault by Female Driver Seriously
Lawyers for a Georgia woman who claims her female Uber driver sexually assaulted her say the company is shirking the promises it made in its December safety report.
February 07, 2020 at 06:05 PM
4 minute read
A Georgia woman is suing Uber Technologies Inc. over allegations that her driver sexually assaulted her. According to the complaint, before the plaintiff reported the incident, her female driver told Uber that she was actually the victim of the assault.
The rider's lawyers from Johnson Trial Law in Santa Monica, California, and Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs in Atlanta filed the suit in federal court in the Northern District of California Friday. The complaint asserts that the ridesharing company did not take the alleged incident seriously.
"Instead, contrary to multiple and repeated statements made by Uber in its recently published 2017-2018 US Safety Report, Uber essentially ignored Doe's allegations of sexual assault," they wrote. "Uber's obstinance is shocking, not only because of the nature of the allegations, but also because this is exactly the type of behavior that Uber has publicly vowed it does not, and will not, tolerate."
An Uber spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation.
The Jane Doe plaintiff contends that, after using an Uber to take her home after a night of heavy drinking in August, she left her apartment door unlocked and found the driver standing above her without any pants on, according to the complaint. Doe claims that the woman grabbed her hair and forced her to perform oral sex. According to the complaint, after Doe fought back, the driver eventually left.
The lawsuit claims that Doe remained in a state of shock and was too embarrassed to tell anyone about the incident. Two days later, she received an email from Uber notifying her that the driver filed a report claiming the plaintiff had assaulted her, according to the complaint.
Doe replied to the notice, informing Uber it was a false report and that the driver had, in fact, assaulted her, according to the suit. Although Uber said it would open an investigation into the incident, she has not heard any updates from the company and believes the driver still works for Uber, according to the complaint.
The same day she clarified her version of the events to Uber, she filed a police report with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
The complaint alleges the responding police officers failed to take the assault seriously, opting to not take notes of Doe's statement.
"Body camera footage recently obtained by counsel for Doe reveals that the responding officers not only did not treat Doe's allegations with the dignity which they deserve, but apparently found it amusing that a female had sexually assaulted another female," the plaintiff's attorneys wrote. "Indeed, when the lead responding officer learned the particulars of Doe's allegations, he smirked, in fact almost chuckled, and then proceeded to interrogate Doe as if she had done something wrong."
The driver told the police the act was consensual, according to the complaint.
Doe is suing Uber for battery, sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespassing, intentional infliction of emotional distress, failure to warn and, finally, fraud. The suit claims Uber represented its services as "safe for Doe—even while intoxicated—to call an Uber to transport her even though Uber had actual knowledge of the high numbers of sexual assaults reported to it."
The lawsuit comes after complaints against Uber and Lyft Inc over driver assault have flooded California courts. In December, Uber's chief legal officer Tony West released its latest safety report detailing the 6,000 sexual assault complaints the company has received since 2017 and its plan to address them. "Most companies don't talk about issues like sexual violence because doing so risks inviting negative headlines and public criticism," West wrote in the report's introduction. "But we feel it's time for a new approach."
In January, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kenneth Freeman granted a request to coordinate 20 lawsuits against Lyft brought by plaintiffs firm Levin Simes Abrams. He recommended San Francisco Superior Court take on the caseload.
James Johnson of Johnson Trial Law and V. Justin Arpey of Parker Hudson did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
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