Uber is being sued by women who allege they were assaulted by drivers who use the ride-hailing service across the U.S. and the lawyers who filed the suit say they represent “approximately 550 clients with claims" against the company.
Details: The lawsuit alleges passengers "were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers," per a statement from attorneys at Slater Slater Schulman LLP, who filed the complaint in the San Francisco County Superior Court on Wednesday.
- An Uber spokesperson said only 12 women have sued the company so far.
- “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" a Slater Slater Schulman spokesperson told ABC News.
The big picture: The complaint comes days after the company released its second safety report, covering 2019-20, showing 3,824 Uber drivers and riders reported sexual assaults — a decline of 38% from the previous report, which covered 2017 and 2018, Axios' Ina Fried notes.
- Adam Slater, a founding partner of Slater Slater Schulman, said in a statement that while Uber "has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences."
What they're saying: "Sexual assault is a horrific crime and we take every single report seriously," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to news outlets.
- "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," the spokesperson said.
- "While we can't comment on pending litigation, we will continue to keep safety at the heart of our work."
Editor's note: This story and headline have been corrected to say Uber is being sued and 550 women have claims against the company, not that 550 women have sued the company.
