MDL Judge Selects 6 Uber Driver Assault Lawsuits for First Wave of Bellwether Trials

First trial is scheduled to begin on December 8, 2025, to test how juries may respond to claims that will be repeated in thousands of similar Uber sexual assault lawsuits.

To help gauge how juries respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout more than 2,000 Uber sexual assault lawsuits currently being pursued, the U.S. District Judge presiding over the litigation has selected six claims that will be part of the first “wave” of bellwether trials, involving a wide range of alleged attacks committed by drivers, from verbal comments to rape.

While each of the Uber driver assault lawsuits brought in the federal court system involve unique facts, they each raise similar allegations that the rideshare service should be held accountable for the incidents because it failed to enact adequate measures to screen drivers and prevent the attacks.

Although Uber implemented “Safe Ride Fees” in 2014, plaintiffs maintain that the company never actually used the funds to make passengers safer, providing only the most basic background checks for drivers. The company also failed to provide surveillance cameras in Uber drivers’ vehicles, did not allow passengers to request drivers by gender, and failed to put drivers through sexual assault and harassment awareness and training, plaintiffs indicate.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, an Uber driver assault MDL (Multidistrict Litigation) was established in October 2023, centralizing all claims before U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in the Northern District of California, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Uber Lawsuit Bellwether Selections

Early in the litigation, Judge Breyer has established a “bellwether” process to help manage Uber driver sexual assault claims, and directed the parties to identify a small group of representative claims to prepare for a series of early test trials, which could help drive Uber sexual assault settlement negotiations in other similar cases.

In December 2024, Judge Breyer called on lawyers to identify a group of 20 Uber sex abuse lawsuits, with each side selecting 10 cases that then went through case-specific discovery and expert work-up.

Last month, the Court and parties participated in a case management conference, during which Judge Breyer asked the plaintiffs and defendants to each file letter briefs on their preferences for bellwether trial selections, resulting in selection proposals that were submitted on April 23.

After reviewing the proposals, Judge Breyer issued a pretrial order (PDF) on May 1, identifying the six Uber driver assault cases that will compose the Bellwether Trial Wave 1. He chose four cases recommended by plaintiffs, and two recommended by defendants. 

The alleged Uber driver attacks involved in the selections include verbal comments, touching of a sexual body part, kissing of a sexual body part and two incidents of alleged sexual penetration. Two of the claims are from California, two from plaintiffs in Arizona, and one each from Texas and Illinois.

Most of the plaintiffs are identified only by their initials, as many of the survivors have decided to protect their anonymity when filing lawsuits against Uber. 

One such claim, filed by a woman only identified as A.R. (PDF) was brought in California in November 2024, involving claims that an Uber driver attacked her and kissed a sexual body part. Claims of touching a sexual body part were also raised in a lawsuit filed by a plaintiff identified as WHB 1486 (PDF) in Texas in August 2024, and plaintiff LCHB128 (PDF) in Arizona last October.

Another claim, alleging harassment through verbal comments, was filed by a plaintiff identified only as WHB 1876 (PDF) in California in August. In addition, two claims of sexual penetration were included in the bellwether selections, including one filed by a plaintiff identified only as B.L. (PDF) in California last November, and one filed by Jaylynn Dean (PDF) in Arizona in December 2023.  

The order indicates that case specific fact discovery on the six selected Uber driver assault bellwether lawsuits must be substantially completed by July 16, 2025. Parties are to exchange expert reports by August 8, with Trial Wave 1 discovery closing on September 22.

The first bellwether trial is scheduled to begin on December 8, and Judge Breyer has previously indicated that if the individual case selected for the first trial settles or is otherwise dismissed before that date, other cases in the wave should be prepared to move forward instead.

While the outcomes of these bellwether trials will not have any binding effect on other claims being pursued by passengers who were sexually assaulted by Uber drivers, they will be closely watched by lawyers involved in the litigation. The average Uber driver assault lawsuit payouts awarded by juries is expected to have a substantial impact on future settlement negotiations, which will be necessary to avoid the need for hundreds of individual cases to be remanded back to U.S. District Courts nationwide for future trial dates.