Uber is allegedly being sued by its female passengers who reported attacks by Uber drivers. The law firm Slater, Slater, Schulman, LLP filed a legal complaint against Uber in San Francisco court on Wednesday saying that “approximately 550 clients with claims against Uber,” drivers in the states.
According to a statement produced by Slater, Slater, Schulman, LLP., women traveling in multiple states “were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers with whom they had been paired through the Uber application.”
The partner of the law firm Adam Slater said that the reports issued on abuse by Uber drivers started in 2015 to 2022. The firm has also confirmed that they filed almost 25 lawsuits so far and plans to file more. However, Uber told in defense that the law firm has filed almost 12 cases against them.
A spokesperson of the law firm said, “The cases have been and will continue to be filed in multi-party complaints, which means they are not filed all at once as they would in a class action.”
the company said that the number of sexual assault reports was 38% less between the years 2017 and 2018. Then the company dropped a safety report in 2019 acknowledging that the number of sexual assault claims might have been impacted due to a shift in usage of the platform over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The law firm added in a statement, “Uber’s whole business model is predicated on giving people a safe ride home, but rider safety was never their concern – growth was at the expense of their passengers’ safety…While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences.”
To which the company stated, “Sexual assault is a horrific crime and we take every single report seriously. There is nothing more important than safety, which is why Uber has built new safety features, established survivor-centric policies, and been more transparent about serious incidents. While we can’t comment on pending litigation, we will continue to keep safety at the heart of our work.”
Uber has initiated background checks of the drivers during the passenger’s booking of the ride. The company has also added emergency response to enhance its safety features. also both the driver and passenger will be allowed to record audio of their whole trips in 14 countries.
