Judge Rejects Uber’s Attempt To Dismiss All Driver Sex Assault Bellwether Lawsuits

Decision clears the way for first bellwether trial to begin on December 8, 2025, to help gauge the average Uber sexual assault lawsuit payouts juries may award in thousands of cases being pursued by former passengers.

The rideshare service Uber must face a series of sexual assault lawsuit bellwether trials, involving allegations that it failed to protect passengers from predatory drivers, after a federal judge denied a motion to dismiss all of the claims.

There are currently more than 2,300 Uber driver sex assault lawsuits being pursued throughout the federal court system, each alleging that the company put profits ahead of the safety of passengers, by failing to enact safety measures that could have prevented Uber drivers from harassing, assaulting or even raping riders while using their service.

Plaintiffs say the company not only failed to do more than the most cursory background checks on its drivers, but also should have required in-vehicle surveillance, let passengers request drivers by gender, or taken other common-sense measures to protect passengers from drivers.

Given common issues of fact and law raised in lawsuits filed by individuals nationwide, an Uber driver sex assault MDL (multidistrict litigation) was established in the Northern District of California in 2023, centralizing the claims before U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, who is overseeing coordinated discovery and preparing a series of representative lawsuits for early test trials.

In May, Judge Breyer selected six Uber driver sex assault lawsuits to serve as a first wave of bellwether trials, which are designed to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that would be repeated throughout the litigation.

In advance of the first bellwether trials, Uber has filed motions to dismiss all of the claims, for a wide variety of reasons. However, on July 8, the judge issued a pretrial order (PDF) rejecting the bulk of those arguments.

While Judge Breyer did agree to dismiss certain aspects of plaintiffs claims, and one actual complaint, the plaintiffs were allowed to refile amended complaints and the parties were ordered to each select a replacement lawsuit for the one case that was dismissed within the next 14 days.

The decision clears the way for the first Uber sexual assault lawsuit bellwether trials to proceed, with the first scheduled to go before a jury on December 8, 2025.

While the outcomes of these bellwether trials will not have any binding effect on other claims in the MDL, they will be closely watched by parties involved in the litigation and the average lawsuit payouts awarded by juries may have a substantial impact on any Uber sexual assault settlement negotiations, which will be necessary to avoid hundreds of individual cases being remanded back to U.S. District Courts nationwide for future trial dates.