Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuit: How To File & FAQs

Since Uber was founded, thousands of individuals have come forward as victims of sexual assault while using Uber’s rideshare services, either as passengers or drivers. In a significant development in October 2023, a panel of judges made the decision to consolidate all of the federal cases and have them collectively heard to save court resources. If you are a survivor of rideshare sexual assault, an experienced attorney can help you understand your options including filing a case under the Uber MDL. 

May 2, 2025 – After taking suggestions from all parties on which bellwether cases should be tried in the first wave of trials, which is scheduled to begin in December, the court solidified the lineup on May 1. Six cases from California, Texas, Illinois, and Arizona were selected to be the first trials of the MDL, with allegations including sexual penetration, kissing of a sexual body part, touching of a sexual body part, and verbal comments. The plaintiffs chose four of the six Wave 1 cases, and Uber chose two. Discovery for the first wave of trials is set to end in late September, with the first trial beginning on December 8.

When finalizing the composition of the first trial wave, the court identified six cases in the Uber sexual assault multi-district litigation that will be tried first. Each of the complaints include similar counts against Uber, including negligence, fraud, misrepresentation, vicarious liability for drivers’ torts, product liability, and more. The plaintiffs, allegations, and locations of the first wave of bellwether cases are:

1. 24-cv-7940 – California: The plaintiff lives in Austin, Texas, and alleges they were sexually penetrated by an Uber driver in connection with a ride facilitated on the Uber platform in San Jose, California on August 12, 2022.
2. 24-cv-7821 – California: The plaintiff lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and alleges an Uber driver kissed them on a sexual body part without consent in San Francisco, California on August 10, 2023.
3. 24-cv-4803 – Texas: The plaintiff lives in Houston, Texas, and alleges an Uber driver touched them on a touched sexual body party in Harris County, Texas on October 29, 2021.
4. 24-cv-5230 – Illinois: The plaintiff lives in Jacksonville, Florida and alleges they were harassed with sexual comments by an Uber driver in Bento County, Missouri on September 27, 2019.
5. 24-cv-7019 – Arizona: The plaintiff lives in Phoenix, Arizona and alleges an Uber driver touched them on a sexual body part in Maricopa County, Arizona on June 28, 2024.
6. 23-cv-6708 – Arizona: The plaintiff lives in Oklahoma and alleges she was raped by an Uber driver in Arizona on November 15, 2023.

Though the specifics of five of the six wave-one cases have been designated as privileged, meaning they are not publicly available, the sixth includes a full 54-page long-form complaint. Jaylynn Dean, the plaintiff in case 23-cv-6708, said her Uber driver made vulgar comments to her before stopping the vehicle and forcing himself onto her, raping her despite her attempts to fight back. Dean asserts that Uber is vicariously liable for the injuries its drivers inflict on passengers.

“Through its officers, directors, and managing agents, Uber contributed to the attack on plaintiff by abandoning its utmost duty of heightened care toward its passengers, and instead adopting a culture that prized growth above all else, celebrated toxic masculinity, and exploited and endangered women and girls in conscious disregard for their rights and safety,” wrote attorneys for Dean in her complaint.

Dean’s complaint alleges that Uber misled her and the public into believing it was addressing the “deeply rooted issue” of sexual assault on the platform, asserting that Uber has known that female passengers were being assaulted by drivers since as early as 2014. Rider safety, said attorneys for Dean, was never the company’s top concern.

April 21, 2025- During a case management conference on April 18, the court set a date for the first wave of bellwether jury trials in the Uber sexual assault MDL. The first trials will begin in San Francisco on December 8, 2025. The court has not yet addressed Uber’s recent motion to dismiss part or all of every bellwether complaint. While the plaintiffs’ attorneys agreed with the court’s decision to try the bellwether cases in waves of three to five at a time, Uber’s counsel disagreed with the trials selected for each wave, asserting that the order was skewed in the plaintiffs’ favor.

April 16, 2025 – On April 15, Uber and its subsidiaries filed an extensive motion to dismiss all or part of every single Bellwether complaint. If the motion is granted, three of the 20 Bellwether complaints would be dismissed entirely, while the others would have some or most of their claims for relief dismissed. Uber asked the court to permanently dismiss claims of fraud, misrepresentation, vicarious liability, product liability, negligent design defects, and more.

Uber asserted in the motion that the court had previously rejected several claims by the Bellwether plaintiffs but had granted them leave to amend their complaints. Still, Uber stated that the amended complaints failed to plausibly allege reliance on safety-related advertising, a connection between their injuries and a defect in the Uber App, and Uber’s knowledge of or response to any driver misconduct. Attorneys for Uber reiterated their doubt that enough evidence was present to make these claims.

April 4, 2025 – The court denied Uber’s earlier requests to restrict the depositions of its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. In an order filed April 3, the court expressed its doubt that those executives were not involved in high-level corporate decision-making about rider safety. Additionally, the court admonished both the defendants and the plaintiffs for “bad behavior by all involved” in Uber Senior Vice President of Safety and Core Services Gus Fuldner’s deposition. In response, the court laid down ground rules for conduct in further depositions–including limiting Uber’s counsel’s ability to instruct executives not to answer questions.

April 2, 2025 – Uber and the plaintiffs each submitted briefs regarding whether the bellwether cases should be tried individually or consolidated. Bellwether trials are the first trials in multi-district litigation and are often used as tests to determine how juries will respond to evidence and arguments. Uber argued that multi-plaintiff trials would undermine the goals of the bellwether process and “severely prejudice” the company, while the plaintiffs argue that consolidating the first trial to include three or more plaintiffs would be more efficient since the cases are similar.

“[Uber] will argue that each sexual assault is unique—as it did in opposing the formation of the MDL in the first place,” counsel for the plaintiffs wrote in their brief. “But, as a general matter, no one disputes that sexual assaults happen in Uber vehicles, and that those assaults are horrific. The disputed issues here, and the common core of Plaintiffs’ cases-in-chief, go to Uber’s policies and practices.”

On the same day, Uber and the plaintiffs submitted a joint letter regarding their recent deposition of Uber’s Senior Vice President of Safety and Core Services, Gus Fuldner. On March 26-27, counsel for the plaintiffs deposed Fuldner for 14 hours. Days before, the court directed the parties to submit a letter regarding whether Fuldner’s deposition merited a change in the overall schedule and procedure of the remaining Uber executives’ depositions. 

Uber has previously raised the so-called “apex” doctrine, which gives high-ranking corporate officials certain special protections from abusive or harassing discovery demands. While the court generally denied issuing a protective order, Uber’s lawyers have sought some limitations on the executives’ upcoming depositions. Uber argued that the executive’s depositions should be significantly shortened and restricted based on the information gathered from Fuldner, while the plaintiffs argued no change in procedure is necessary.

April 1, 2025 – Between March 3 and April 1, 2025, 283 new lawsuits were added to the consolidated Uber sexual assault multi-district litigation, with a total of 1,883 actions now pending. Over the past week, attorneys for Uber and the plaintiffs have debated the privileged status of hundreds of Uber’s internal documents. The court instructed the parties to submit a proposed protocol for scheduling and depositions for bellwether cases by April 9, and a further case management conference is scheduled for April 18.