$8.5M Awarded To Woman Sexually Assaulted by Uber Driver

Jury determined Uber driver was an “agent” of the company, which makes the rideshare service liable for his sexual assault on a female passenger in 2023.

A federal jury has ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to an Arizona woman who was sexually assaulted by an Uber driver in 2023, ruling that although Uber was not negligent for lacking certain safety features, it was still legally responsible for the driver’s actions.

The lawsuit, filed by Jaylynn Dean, is one of more than 3,000 similar claims brought in recent years by former passengers, almost entirely women, seeking to hold the company responsible for damages sustained when they were sexually harassed, assaulted, or even kidnapped and raped by drivers who were never properly vetted or trained.

Plaintiffs in Uber passenger sexual assault lawsuits accuse the service of failing to implement more than bare minimum background checks on its drivers. Specifically, many claims say the rideshare company did not train drivers in sexual harassment and assault awareness, place surveillance cameras in vehicles, give customers the option of choosing the gender of their drivers, or put in place other measures that could have protected passengers.

Given the growing number of claims that have been filed by victims, the litigation was consolidated into an Uber passenger sexual assault lawsuit MDL, or multidistrict litigation, in the Northern District of California under U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Early in the litigation, Judge Breyer directed the parties to prepare six lawsuits for Uber passenger assault lawsuit bellwether trials, the first of which involved Dean’s claims and began on January 13 in Phoenix, Arizona. Dean originally filed her lawsuit against Uber in December 2023, indicating that she was raped by an Uber driver in Arizona in November 2023.

In her complaint, Dean states that she had been celebrating her impending graduation from flight attendant training and ordered an Uber ride to return to her hotel. Shortly after picking her up, the driver allegedly made sexually explicit and inappropriate comments, including asking about her current relationship status, before continuing to make vulgar remarks as she lay down in the back seat, exhausted.

The complaint goes on to say that the driver eventually stopped the vehicle without warning, entered the back seat and forcibly raped Dean before she could process what was happening or escape. Dean indicates that she immediately reported the assault to both Uber and police, and that she continues to suffer severe emotional and psychological trauma as a result.

Uber Sexual Assault Bellwether Trial Verdict

On Tuesday the jury returned a mixed verdict, rejecting punitive damages and claims of negligence on behalf of Uber, but deciding the company was still responsible for Dean’s attack, declaring that the driver was working as an agent of the company. They deliberated for about 12 hours before awarding Dean $8.5 million in compensatory damages.

Uber officials say the company plans to appeal the verdict. However, the trial was only the first of several designed to see how juries are likely to respond to evidence and testimony that will likely be presented throughout the litigation.

Judge Breyer indicated that the next bellwether trial will begin on April 12 in North Carolina.

In addition to the claims filed at the federal level, hundreds of similar complaints have also been brought in California state court, which held its first Uber driver sexual assault lawsuit trial in September. Although jurors in that case indicated Uber was negligent in failing to protect passengers, they also found that negligence did not substantially contribute to the attack and thus the company was not liable for damages.

Although these trial results are not binding on other cases, they are being closely watched and are likely to have a significant impact on future Uber passenger sexual assault settlement talks. If no global resolution is reached after the bellwether trials, Judge Breyer is likely to begin remanding individual claims back to their originating districts for early trial dates.

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