A federal jury in Arizona has dealt Uber a potentially costly setback in its long-running fight over responsibility for assaults by its drivers. Jurors in Phoenix on Thursday ordered the company to pay $8.5 million to passenger Jaylynn Dean, who testified that her Uber driver raped her during a ride in Tempe in November 2023, when she was 19 years old, the New York Times reports.
- The jury found Uber liable for the driver's conduct despite the company's argument that drivers are independent contractors and that it should not be held responsible for their misconduct. That ruling could influence more than 3,000 similar sexual assault and misconduct lawsuits pending against the company nationwide, many of them bundled in a federal "bellwether" process meant to test the strength of the claims. Bloomberg estimates that the company may have to pay more than $500 million to settle the cases.
- While the verdict does not set a legal precedent for those other cases, it offers a concrete example of how a jury may weigh the evidence. Dean's lawyers had sought $144 million, but jurors declined to impose punitive damages, concluding Uber's conduct was not "outrageous, oppressive, or intolerable."
- Uber successfully defended itself against separate claims that its safety practices were negligent and that its app was defectively designed. The company said it will appeal, arguing the judge gave improper instructions to the jury. "This verdict affirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested meaningfully in rider safety," spokesperson Matt Kallman said.
- Alexandra Walsh, an attorney for Dean, said Uber had marketed itself as a safe option for women, Reuters reports. "Women know it's a dangerous world. We know about the risk of sexual assault," Walsh said. "They made us believe that this was a place that was safe from that." "What did Uber know internally?" she said. "That it's not safe to put your drunk girlfriend in an Uber late at night."
During the three-week trial, jurors heard Dean's account and reviewed internal Uber documents, including records indicating the company's system had flagged her ride as higher risk shortly before pickup. An executive testified that notifying riders in such situations would be "impractical." Plaintiffs' lawyers also introduced documents they said showed Uber resisted measures such as in-car cameras out of concern for growth. Uber countered that the driver had passed background checks, completed training, had no criminal record, and held strong ratings, and it pointed to its broader safety initiatives. A state jury in California jury last year found Uber not liable in a sexual assault case.
Dean testified that she had recently moved to Arizona and was celebrating passing her flight attendant exam on the night she was attacked. She said she abandoned that career after the rape and moved back home with her parents, the Times reports. She said she is now afraid of the dark because it reminds her of the attack in a dark parking lot. "I want to make sure it doesn't happen to other women," she said. "I'm doing this for other women who thought the same thing I did, that they were making the safe and smart choice—but that, you know, there are risks of being assaulted."
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