Uber just lost its first sexual assault liability case. Here’s why it matters

A federal jury in Arizona has ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million in a lawsuit brought by a passenger who said was sexually assaulted by one of the ridesharing app’s drivers. The case marks the first time that Uber has been found liable for the safety of its drivers in a sexual assault case.

The plaintiff, Oklahoma resident Jaylynn Dean, sued Uber in 2023. Dean alleged that an Uber driver sexually assaulted her that November during a late ride to a hotel in Tempe, Arizona. Dean’s legal team argued that Uber avoided extra safety measures like more extensive background checks and in-ride cameras because while those steps could protect riders from sexual assault, they might also stifle the ridesharing app’s growth.

The jury determined that the driver was an apparent agent of Uber, but stopped short of finding the ridesharing company liable for design defects in its app or negligence related to the incident. The jury did not order the company to pay punitive damages.

In a statement to Fast Company, an Uber spokesperson highlighted that the $8.5 million was far less than the $144 million in damages sought. “This verdict affirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested meaningfully in rider safety,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to put safety at the heart of everything we do.” Uber plans to appeal the verdict.

Internal documents revealed during the trial also showed that the app’s safety algorithm  flagged Dean’s ride as higher risk before it began, information that was not passed along to the passenger. After the assault, Dean contacted police and Uber, which removed the driver from the platform.

“I want to make sure it doesn’t happen to other women,” Dean said during witness testimony. “I’m doing this for other women who thought the same thing I did, that they were making the safe and smart choice — but that, you know, there are risks of being assaulted.”

A long history of concerns

Dean’s case may be the first time that Uber has been found liable in a case involving the sexual assault of a passenger, but the company faces more than 3,000 similar lawsuits. Her case is not determinative for future cases, but will serve as a test trial for the backlog of other sexual assault and misconduct lawsuits that the ridesharing company faces. Late last year, a San Francisco jury found that Uber was not liable in a different sexual assault case involving a driver and a female passenger.

Uber insists that it has taken every measure to make its rides safer, but court records reported by The New York Times last year paint a picture of a company that stopped short of implementing some safety programs it knew would help protect riders. “Our purpose/goal is not to be the police,” an internal 2021 Uber brainstorming document stated. “Our bar is much lower and our goal is to protect the company and set the tolerable risk level for our operations.”

Concerns about rider safety and sexual assault have followed Uber for years. According to the recently revealed court records, the company received one report of sexual misconduct or sexual assault in the U.S. every eight minutes between 2017 and 2022. During that period, more than 400,000 Uber rides prompted those reports – an order of magnitude more than the 12,500 disclosed incidents of sexual assaults during the same time frame.