"Uber must pay a passenger who accused one of its drivers of rape $8.5 million, a federal jury in Phoenix has ordered. The jury found Uber liable for its driver's misconduct, determining that the driver was an agent of the company. Part of Uber's defense was that it's not responsible for what its drivers do, as they are independent contractors."
"The case chosen for the bellwether trial was filed by Jaylynn Dean, who said she was raped by her Uber driver in 2023. Dean said she was intoxicated when she ordered an Uber to take her back home from her boyfriend's apartment after celebrating passing a test for her flight attendant training. The driver allegedly stopped at a dark parking lot and raped her in the backseat."
"The company's camp also presented its safety measures, including the development of a machine-learning tool that can assess the risk of potential rides. But Dean's lawyers showed evidence during the trial that she was tagged as high risk for a serious safety incident just before her ride arrived and that she wasn't notified about it. They also presented documents suggesting that Uber resisted introducing in-car cameras, because it would slow down growth."
A federal jury in Phoenix ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to a passenger who accused an Uber driver of rape. The jury found Uber liable by determining the driver acted as an agent of the company, rejecting Uber's independent-contractor defense. The case served as a bellwether among roughly 3,000 consolidated lawsuits. The plaintiff, Jaylynn Dean, said she was intoxicated when she booked a ride in 2023 and that the driver stopped in a dark parking lot and raped her in the backseat. Uber highlighted the driver's clean record and its safety tools, while evidence showed the rider had been flagged high risk and was not warned.
Read at Engadget
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