A chilling lawsuit has been filed against a prominent ride-sharing company, accusing it of fostering a culture that allows sexual assaults to occur. Justice Moore, the plaintiff, filed the complaint in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco on November 12, 2024, against Uber Technologies, Inc., Rasier, LLC, and Rasier-CA, LLC.
Justice Moore alleges that she was sexually assaulted by an Uber driver who engaged in inappropriate behavior during a ride she ordered through the Uber app. The complaint details how the driver masturbated while driving and attempted to touch Moore inappropriately. It further accuses Uber of maintaining a toxic culture that prioritizes growth over customer safety and disregards the rights and safety of passengers, particularly women. According to the complaint, this culture stems from Uber's leadership under former CEO Travis Kalanick and continues under current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
The lawsuit claims that as early as 2014, Uber was aware of its drivers physically and sexually assaulting passengers but failed to implement adequate safety measures. Despite acknowledging these issues publicly in reports like their U.S. Safety Report published in December 2019, the company allegedly continued to neglect necessary changes to prevent such incidents. The plaintiff argues that Uber's inadequate background checks and failure to install safety features like video cameras in vehicles contributed to her assault.
Moore is seeking damages for her injuries and emotional distress caused by the incident. She is also asking for injunctive relief to ensure better protection for herself and other passengers from similar assaults in the future. The lawsuit includes several causes of action against Uber including general negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, failure to warn customers about potential dangers posed by drivers, intentional misrepresentation regarding passenger safety, negligent infliction of emotional distress, vicarious liability for the driver's actions during employment with Uber, strict product liability for design defects related to safety features within their app or service structure.
The legal team representing Justice Moore includes Sarah R. London from Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP among others listed on the signature page of court documents. The case has been assigned Case No. CGC-24-619664 with Judge Austin Lam presiding over proceedings at San Francisco's Superior Court where it was electronically filed by Deputy Clerk Austin Lam.