Lawsuit Claims Lyft Driver Sexually Assaulted Woman With Her Children in the Back Seat

Woman alleges the rideshare company’s actions were a substantial factor in the Lyft driver sexually assaulting her as a passenger, seeking damages for the pain, suffering and emotional trauma experienced by her and her children.

According to a lawsuit filed in California federal court, Lyft’s failure to monitor rides in progress and implement basic safety features led to the sexual assault of a Texas woman in front of her children during what was supposed to be a family trip to the park.

The complaint (PDF) identifies the plaintiff only as Jane SL102, who says she was assaulted by a Lyft driver in September 2023. While currently only filed against Lyft Inc., the lawsuit indicates the driver will be added to the complaint once his identity is ascertained from the company’s records.

The rideshare service faces about 30 similar Lyft driver sexual assault lawsuits filed in federal courts nationwide. Thousands of such claims have also been filed against its competitor, Uber, each alleging that passengers were sexually harassed, assaulted, raped and even kidnapped due to a lack of basic safety features both rideshare services have refused to implement.

Former passengers say both services do not equip vehicles with surveillance cameras, fail to require sexual harassment training for drivers and do only bare minimum background checks. The plaintiffs, nearly all women, also argue that Lyft and Uber have deflated or hidden actual numbers of sexual assaults by their drivers for years.

Lyft Driver Sexual Assault Lawsuit

According to the lawsuit by Jane SL102, she called for a Lyft while living in Houston in September 2023, so that she and her three minor children could go to the park. The ride was supposed to take 23 minutes.

“During the course of the ride, the LYFT driver’s personality and demeanor shifted, and he became hostile and aggressive. He repeatedly stared at JANE SL102, made sexual gestures, and licked his tongue at her in a suggestive manner.”

– Jane SL102 v. Lyft Inc.

The passenger asked him to stop, telling the driver his actions made her feel uncomfortable and unsafe. Instead of changing his behavior, the lawsuit indicates the driver became aggressive, driving dangerously and erratically, putting her and her children at risk.

The lawsuit states “the driver touched JANE SL102’s inner thigh, digitally penetrating her.” JANE SL102 claims she told him to stop and tried to push him off of her, while her children, realizing what was occurring, cried in the back seat.

Unable to fight the driver off, the woman indicates she told her children to put their heads down and not watch. The driver stopped in an isolated area and then raped the plaintiff, according to the lawsuit. Having seen a gun in the vehicle and fearing the driver would use it if she resisted, the woman told her children to run.

After the assault, the driver threatened her, threw her belongings out of the car and fled the scene, leaving her and her children behind.

The woman blames Lyft for the driver’s actions, indicating the company was a “substantial factor” in her pain, suffering, and the intense mental and emotional trauma suffered by her and her children.

She presents claims of negligence, negligent misrepresentation, negligent hiring, supervision and retention, intentional misrepresentation, common carrier negligence, design defect and failure to warn.

Rideshare Driver Sexual Assault Litigation

The complaint was filed in the Northern District of California, where all federal Lyft driver sexual assault lawsuits have been consolidated as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) before U.S. District Judge Rita Lin for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Uber driver sexual assault lawsuits are consolidated in the same district, but under a different judge. That litigation is considerably further along, with two trials having already concluded.

The first Uber trial was held in California state court in September 2025, with the jury finding that Uber failed to adequately protect passengers. However, the jury stopped short of holding the company legally liable for the plaintiff’s injuries and did not issue an award.

The first federal Uber trial was held in Arizona in January, ending in an $8.5 million verdict for Jaylynn Dean, who claims she was sexually assaulted by an Uber driver in 2023. Although the jury found that Uber was not negligent in its lack of safety features, it found that the rideshare service’s driver was working as an agent of the company, making the company responsible for her injuries.

It is expected that Judge Lin will eventually hold similar early “bellwether” trials for Lyft lawsuits, giving the parties an opportunity to see how juries respond to evidence and testimony likely to be repeated throughout the litigation.

These early trials, while not binding on other cases, can be used to form the basis of a Lyft driver assault lawsuit settlement agreement. If no such settlement or other resolution is reached, this lawsuit and others would likely be remanded back to their originating district courts to be scheduled for individual trials.

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