Is Uber Responsible if I Am Assaulted In A Car?
If you have been sexually assaulted by an Uber driver, you may be able to take legal action against the rideshare company. Learn about your legal rights, Uber’s role, and the broader implications for rideshare safety.
Have you experienced sexual assault or abuse?
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Author: Kathryn Kosmides
Survivor Advocate
Reviewed By: Melissa Reitberg
Uber Sexual Assault Attorney
- If a rideshare driver sexually assaults a passenger, the victim can file a rideshare sexual assault lawsuit against the company for negligent hiring practices
- The driver and anyone else involved in the assault can also be held personally accountable in both civil and criminal court proceedings.
- If you or someone you know have experienced sexual assault or harassment in an Uber or Lyft, you can reach out to Helping Survivors to get the assistance you deserve, including connecting you to a law firm experienced in helping survivors seek justice for rideshare abuse.
Whether you experienced sexual harassment, abuse, or assault in a rideshare, there are several things you can do: document the experience, get immediate medical help, and report to the platform and to law enforcement.
The most important thing to know is that this experience is not your fault and that you deserve respect, healing, and assistance during this time.
While the person who perpetrated the harm is ultimately responsible for their actions, the ridesharing platforms have a responsibility to their users and other stakeholders to provide a safe service. If a rideshare company is negligent in its hiring practices and you become the victim of sexual assault, harassment, or abuse, you may be entitled to compensation from the rideshare company. Uber can be held liable for the actions of its drivers when they carelessly hire, or fail to fire, a known dangerous driver.
The Centers for Disease Control defines sexual assault as “a sexual act that is committed or attempted by another person without freely given consent of the victim or against someone who is unable to consent or refuse.” Sexual assault can include many actions, including:
- Unwanted kissing
- Unwanted touching
- Attempted rape
- Rape that includes penetration of another’s body or forcing someone to penetrate another’s body
- Non-consensual forced acts, such as oral sex
- Unwanted exposure to pornography
- Verbal or behavioral sexual harassment
Sexual assault always has an element of force, though that force may not necessarily be physical. Force also can encompass verbal threats, manipulation, or coercion that compels someone to do something against their wishes. In the United States, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men have been victims of rape at some point in their lives. If you were a victim of sexual violence, you are not alone.
- Who Can be Sued if You are Sexually Assaulted in an Uber Rideshare?
- What Claims Can Be Filed Against Uber if You Were Sexually Assaulted?
- What Type of Damages Can Victims Collect?
- How Does Uber Define Sexual Assault?
- How Often Do Sexual Assaults in Ubers Occur?
- Steps to Take After an Assault in an Uber
- When to Contact a Rideshare Sexual Assault Attorney
Who Can be Sued if You are Sexually Assaulted in an Uber Rideshare?
If you are sexually assaulted by a rideshare driver, you may have the right to sue Uber. Such legal actions tend to focus on the negligent hiring practices that allowed you to get into a car with a perpetrator. If it can be proven to a jury that weaknesses in Uber’s hiring, safety, and security policies allowed a dangerous person to transport passengers, they can be held liable.
Furthermore, the driver and anyone else who facilitated or perpetrated the actual harm can also be held personally responsible for the assault. By filing a civil lawsuit, a sexual abuse survivor can hold the individual accountable. Sometimes, it may be difficult to collect compensatory damages from an individual, depending on the limits of their insurance policy. Still, the legal process can bring vindication and closure to an unjust act.
Besides a civil suit, a sexual assault incident can prompt criminal prosecution. In this case, the perpetrator may be subject to jail time, fines, probation, and other penalties or sanctions.
What Claims Can Be Filed Against Uber if You Were Sexually Assaulted?
As with any personal injury lawsuit, a specific legal standard must be met to prove negligence and assign fault in a sexual assault action against Uber. The rideshare company may be found liable if:
- There was a duty of care owed to a client
- There was a breach of that duty
- The breach of duty directly caused harm to a person
- That person suffered actual damages as a result of the incident
Big rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft classify their drivers as independent contractors instead of actual employees. As a result, the companies cannot be sued under the doctrine of vicarious liability in sexual assault cases because drivers are independently responsible for crimes they commit.
However, there have been several lawsuits brought against Uber alleging negligence of different kinds, including:
- Negligent hiring practices
- Negligent supervision
- Negligent retention
- Negligent infliction of emotional distress
Uber sexual assault attorneys can represent people who have been sexually assaulted by an Uber driver and hold the ride-sharing company accountable. The attorney will argue that the company has a legal obligation to implement safety practices for recruiting, training, and retaining qualified and safe drivers. By proving that the company failed to meet legal requirements during the hiring process, an attorney can hold Uber liable for the sexual assault.
What Type of Damages Can Victims Collect?
If it can be proven that Uber, Lyft, or another rideshare company is liable for a sexual assault, their insurance coverage would come into play. While drivers may have smaller insurance policies, rideshare companies have much deeper pockets. In a personal injury case, a sexual assault victim could collect damages for:
- Current and future medical bills
- Loss of income
- Therapy costs
- The victim’s pain and suffering
If you were a victim of sexual violence at the hands of an Uber driver, it is worth your time to consult with a personal injury lawyer. There are statutes of limitations that may apply depending on the level of sexual assault you experienced. If you wait beyond the allowable period, you may lose your right to pursue a civil lawsuit.
How Does Uber Define Sexual Assault?
For its 2019 US Safety Report, Uber partnered with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the Urban Institute to develop a classification system to clarify categories of unwanted sexual incidents. This collaboration prompted the development of a tool that corporations can use to understand and categorize reports of sexual misconduct by consumers.
To be considered an Uber-related sexual assault, the report says that one or both of the following scenarios must apply:
- The alleged misconduct happened during an active Uber-facilitated trip.
- The assault took place between people who had been paired by the Uber app, and it occurred within 48 hours of the trip’s completion.
For purposes of their reporting, Uber used the following five categories for sexual assault:
- Non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part
- Non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part
- Non-consensual touching of a sexual body part
- Attempted non-consensual penetration
- Non-consensual sexual penetration
Uber has stated that it will release a safety report every two years, claiming that this level of transparency will help keep passengers and drivers safer. However, providing transparency into the harms happening won’t begin to solve them. Survivors, advocates, and experts believe Uber can and should be doing more to protect people before, during, and after harm occurs.
How Often Do Sexual Assaults in Ubers Occur?
Sexual misconduct by Uber drivers is more common than you might think. There was a daily average of 3.1 million trips completed in the United States in 2017 and 2018. According to a safety report released by Uber in 2019, non-consensual touching of sexual body parts occurred in one out of every 800,000 completed trips. That is an average of almost four incidents per day.
Other allegations of sexual misconduct during this time included:
- Non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part 1.55 times daily
- Unwelcome kissing of a sexual body part 1 time per day
- Non-consensual sexual penetration 0.62 times per day
Research by the Centers for Disease Control shows that sexual violence is unfortunately common across all areas of society and demographics. More than one out of three women and one out of four men report experiences of sexual violence during their lifetimes.
Research also indicates that these numbers are lower than the actual rate of occurrences because many cases go unreported. Victims who feel fear, shame, or embarrassment may never tell anyone about their experience.
Steps to Take After an Assault in an Uber
After being sexually assaulted in an Uber, there are a number of steps you can take to protect yourself, preserve evidence, and hold the responsible parties accountable.
Document The Incident
Document the date and time of your Uber ride, as well as the approximate time of the assault. Save your Uber ride receipt and any additional communication regarding the ride. Additionally, document who was involved, where it happened, exactly what happened, and how you feel afterwards. These documents can serve as evidence should you choose to pursue legal action against the driver or the rideshare company.
Seek Medical Attention If Needed
Immediately after experiencing sexual assault, the most important thing to do is to get to a safe place, be it your home, a family member’s or friend’s home, a hospital, or a police station. Then, call 911 to report the assault and contact the nearest rape crisis program for support. You may also need to seek medical care to check for injuries, sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, and DNA evidence.
If you seek medical care, you can get a sexual assault forensic exam or “rape kit” for free to protect your health and preserve evidence of sexual assault if relevant. RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline can help you find a local clinic or hospital that provides compassionate care to sexual violence survivors and offers resources for support and healing.
Report to Uber or Lyft
After experiencing sexual assault or harassment in an Uber, you can log into the Uber app or website to report driver behavior that caused harm or extreme discomfort. Uber also offers a Safety Incident Reporting phone line for further assistance.
If you experienced sexual violence in a Lyft, you can contact Lyft’s 24/7 Safety Team online or through the app. If you are involved in an incident that poses a threat to your personal safety, call 911, then contact Lyft’s Critical Response Line through the app.
Report to Local Law Enforcement
If you are in immediate danger, contact 911. To report a rideshare sexual assault after it occurred and you are in a safe location, you can call 911 or your local police station’s non-emergency line to file a report and begin a criminal investigation. You can also visit a police precinct to file a report, even if the harm happened months or years ago.
When to Contact a Rideshare Sexual Assault Attorney
Across the nation, there are currently thousands of lawsuits pending against Uber for sexual assault. If you or a loved one experienced sexual assault in an Uber or another rideshare service, you have legal rights and options for seeking accountability and compensation. At Helping Survivors, we work to connect survivors with experienced law firms that can file civil lawsuits against the individuals and institutions that perpetrated and enabled the assault.
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