Uber Is Responsible for Rape by Driver, Jury Finds
Nytimes reports that a federal jury in Phoenix ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to Jaylynn Dean, a passenger who said one of its drivers raped her. The verdict, the first of thousands of forthcoming sexual assault cases, rejected Uber’s long-standing defense that drivers are independent contractors and could provide a road map for more than 3,000 pending lawsuits.
Jurors awarded far less than the $144 million Ms. Dean’s lawyers had requested, in part because they did not find the company’s actions were “outrageous, oppressive or intolerable” or that they created substantial risk or significant harm. The jury also rejected claims that Uber was negligent in its safety practices and that its app was defective.
Ms. Dean testified that she was 19, had been celebrating passing a flight-attendant test, was intoxicated and ordered an Uber from her boyfriend’s apartment to her hotel.