Class Action Lawsuit: Uber Has Created a System That Puts Female Passengers in Danger

Two anonymous plaintiffs allege in a new proposed class action lawsuit that Uber’s failure to implement adequate background checks for drivers and put in place other reasonable safety measures has put female passengers in danger. Citing a recent spike in reported sexual assaults and rapes of female passengers by male drivers, the 58-page lawsuit claims Uber, despite its “safe ride” offerings, has effectively prioritized profits over rider safety by cutting costs on driver screenings and using its branding as a “technology platform”—rather than as a transportation service—to skirt regulatory oversight.

“Nothing meaningful has been done to make rides safer for passengers—especially women,” the complaint summarizes.   

The lawsuit asks for court intervention to force Uber to revamp its driving vetting procedures.

No Longer a ‘Rogue’ Issue: Uber’s System Prioritizes Profits Over Safety, Plaintiffs Claim

The lawsuit makes a number of allegations:

The plaintiffs—who are identified in the complaint as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2—outright say that Uber has taken no steps to improve its “inherently flawed” vetting of drivers. Instead, they claim, the company relies on “low-cost, woefully inadequate” background checks that date back only seven years, and which do not pick up on all past violent or inappropriate behavior. During the application process to become an Uber driver, at no point does the company verify that the records submitted by prospective drivers are in fact their own personal documents. Even with addition of facial recognition technology, Uber’s current procedures do not prevent drivers from signing up using someone else’s identity as a way to bypass merely “sporadic” security checks.

Moreover, the plaintiffs argue Uber’s positioning as a “technology platform” is nothing more than a dual-purposed, self-serving guise that aims to keeps the embattled ride-sharing service out of lawmakers’ crosshairs and allows the company to avoid spending money on monitoring drivers before and after hiring.

“Uber has created a system for bad actors to gain access to vulnerable victims,” the lawsuit charges, outlining a terrifying scenario that’s not out of the realm of possibility for female riders. “Specifically, drivers have the means and opportunity to veer off route without detection, trap passengers inside their vehicles and commit physical and sexual violence without witnesses.”

Even further, the complaint charges this system that allows for unchecked gender-motivated acts of violence on female passengers is the product of a calculated decision made by the San Francisco company’s senior executives intent on dominating and controlling the ride-hailing market at the expense of rider’s safety.

Misrepresentations

Per the lawsuit, Uber has done nothing to fortify its driver background checks despite an increase in reported sexual harassment and assaults by female passengers. In fact, the plaintiffs—who themselves were victims of sexual assaults at the hands of Uber drivers—argue Uber relies on revenue from young women who travel by themselves and molds its marketing and advertising to keep such profits coming in.

“Uber counts on female consumer usage increasing, and targets marketing ads toward young women travelling alone, knowing that its profits come at the price of these women’s vulnerabilities and personal safety.”

To this point, the lawsuit, which includes numerous stories of women who have reportedly been harassed or assaulted by drivers, claims Uber has misled and deceived consumers who reasonably rely on its representations about the safety of its rides. The plaintiffs also allege Uber purposefully targets intoxicated passengers, particularly women, by advertising its services as “the safest ride on the road.”

“Nothing has been done”

The Jane Doe plaintiffs, who hail from Miami and Los Angeles, go so far as to lay out in the lawsuit more than 15 reasonable safety measures Uber could implement to fight female passenger assaults, yet which are absent even in the wake of injunctive relief granted through previous lawsuits. The safety upgrades proposed in the case include, but are not limited to:

“Had these measures been in place, thousands of women would have been spared the pain and humiliation that they suffered at the hands of their Uber drivers,” the lawsuit asserts before again requesting injunctive action.

Who’s covered by this lawsuit?

The proposed class covered by the lawsuit includes anyone in the United States who obtained rides using Uber’s app and was subject to rape, sexual assault, or gender-motivated violence or harassment by their Uber driver within the last four years.

The full complaint can be read below.