Uber and Lyft are facing new lawsuits in state court over accusations the rideshare services failed to adequately prevent their drivers from sexually assaulting female passengers.
Attorneys from Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise, of San Francisco, and Johnson Law Group, of Houston, sued Uber Technologies on April 3 in San Francisco County Superior Court. On April 5, Jimmie Davis Parker, of San Diego, and Bain Law, of Columbus Ohio, lodged a similar complaint in the same district against Lyft.
Plaintiffs in both actions are unidentified women, although both said they would disclose their identities and the circumstances surrounding their allegations to the companies. The Uber passenger, a Michigan resident, said her assault and harassment happened during a ride on April 1, 2020. The Lyft rider, from Ohio, made allegations concerning events of April 6, 2021.
The Uber lawsuit alleged the driver “made verbal sexual advances toward plaintiff” during the ride, and when the car arrived at the destination, “he got out of the vehicle and opened the back door so plaintiff could exit the vehicle. Once plaintiff exited the vehicle, Uber Driver grabbed plaintiff and put his hands inside her pants in a sexually inappropriate manner. Uber Driver touched plaintiff’s undergarments and the top of her pubic area without plaintiff’s consent. Plaintiff screamed and Uber Driver removed his hands from the inside of plaintiff’s underwear and got back into his vehicle and drove away.”
The Lyft lawsuit also alleged inappropriate verbal conduct during the ride and allegations the driver showed the passenger nude pictures of himself while touching the passenger in the back seat.
“She told him to stop touching her,” the complaint said. “The Lyft Driver continued and grabbed her vaginal area” after which the passenger “screamed and told the Lyft Driver to stop the car. She exited the car and walked to her final destination.”
Both complaints contained several allegations about the companies’ published pledges about the safety of its service and the driver hiring processes, including a claimed failure to adequately screen drivers and to adopt zero-tolerance policies for responding to customer complaints. They also made allegations about the degree to which the companies exert control over the entire customer experience, including fares and allowable conversation topics between riders and drivers, arguing the companies shouldn’t be able to contend they aren’t liable for the conduct of independent contractors.
In the Lyft litigation, the complaint alleged the company is aware of its drivers complaining of sexual violence and that many of its drivers have installed cameras in their cars, at their own expense, as a protective measure. But, the complaint alleged, “Instead of taking adequate precautions aimed to prevent rapes and sexual assault of its passengers, Lyft has chosen to hide and conceal from the United States public and end user consumers the staggering number of reported rapes and sexual assaults that occur within its vehicles. Lyft has made a concerted effort in the media, in litigation, and in criminal cases to hide and conceal the true extent of sexual assaults that occur in its vehicles.”
The Uber lawsuit contains similar allegations, including that “since 2014, Uber has received frequent passenger complaints about driver sexual misconduct, including sexual assault and rape, it has been notified of police investigations of the criminal sexual conduct of drivers acting within their capacity as Uber drivers, and it has been the subject of numerous civil suits alleging the sexual harassment and sexual assault of Uber’s passengers by Uber’s drivers.”
The Lyft plaintiff seeks general and special damages, including compensation for her mental health treatment, lost wages and diminished earning opportunity because of how the alleged assault affected her ability to work. The Uber plaintiff likewise seeks damages, including punitive compensation. Both women requested a jury trial.