Uber found not liable in first US trial over driver sexual assault claims

Uber is not liable for the sexual assault of a woman who said she was attacked by her driver on a ride she ordered from the ridesharing app, a California jury said on Tuesday, according to an attorney for the plaintiff.At the end of a three-week civil trial in San Francisco Superior Court, the jury found that Uber was negligent in terms of the measures it put in place to protect the anonymous woman’s safety, but found that the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the woman’s harm, according to Celine Cutter, one of her lawyers.The case was the first to go to trial out of more than 500 lawsuits consolidated in California state court.There are also more than 2,500 lawsuits making similar claims that have been centralized in a federal court in California.The woman, who went by Jessica C.at trial, sued in 2021, claiming she was assaulted by an Uber driver in 2016.During the ride, her driver pulled off on a side street, restraining, groping and kissing her, according to her attorneys.William Levin and Laurel Simes, two of the lawyers who represented her at trial, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.“Uber has worked for years to raise the bar on safety, and will continue to do so in the years ahead,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement.The woman’s lawsuit was chosen to serve as the first “bellwether” for the state court litigation.

In litigation with many plaintiffs asserting similar claims, bellwether trials are used to test the claims and establish what they may be worth.Judges may use the outcome of the trial to manage the remaining cases, or lawyers can use them to inform settlement negotiations.The woman’s attorneys had asked the jury for between $175,000 and $1.2 million in compensatory damages for each year of her life, suggesting larger figures for the years closest to the assault.They did not suggest a number for punitive damages.Sign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your in...