An iPhone shows the Uber ride-hailing app on 26 September 2017, in Hong Kong.
studioEAST | Getty Photographs
Uber is being sued through greater than 500 ladies who declare they have been assaulted through drivers at the platform.
The grievance, filed Wednesday, claims that “ladies passengers in more than one states have been abducted, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, burdened, or in a different way attacked” through their Uber drivers.
The case was once filed through lawyers with the Slater Slater Schulman company within the San Francisco County Awesome Court docket. The legislation company stated it has about 550 purchasers with claims towards the corporate, and a minimum of 150 extra are being actively investigated.
“As early as 2014, Uber become conscious that its drivers have been sexually assaulting and raping feminine passengers; however, within the 8 years since, sexual predators using for Uber have persevered to assault passengers, together with the plaintiffs whose claims have been alleged in lately’s motion,” the legislation company claimed in a press unencumber.
An Uber spokesperson didn’t in an instant reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
The submitting comes just about two weeks after the rideshare massive launched its 2nd protection record.
The corporate stated it gained 3,824 stories of the 5 maximum critical classes of sexual attack in 2019 and 2020, starting from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual frame phase” to “non-consensual sexual penetration,” or rape.
Uber stated that reported sexual attacks diminished through 38% from its preliminary record, which coated 2017 and 2018. It is unclear if there was once an affect from the Covid-19 pandemic, which dramatically diminished the selection of riders right through 2020 and 2021.
“Whilst the corporate has said this disaster of sexual attack in recent times, its precise reaction has been sluggish and insufficient, with horrific penalties,” Adam Slater, a founding spouse of Slater Slater Schulman, stated in a remark.
Uber has presented a variety of protection choices in recent times, akin to screening drivers after they sign-up at the platform and every year after that. Nonetheless, the corporate has maintained that it cannot be held accountable for its drivers, who’re regarded as unbiased contractors fairly than staff, consistent with Bloomberg Regulation.
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