A California jury on Tuesday found Uber not responsible for the sexual assault that a woman said she experienced during a ride in 2016, an early win for the company as it battles thousands of similar lawsuits across the country.
The case was the first to go to trial in California state court proceedings that consolidated hundreds of lawsuits against Uber from passengers who claim that their drivers sexually assaulted or harassed them. Consolidating cases allows for certain procedural matters of similar proceedings to be presented before the same judge, while allowing each case to still be tried individually.
The three-week trial involved a woman who ordered a ride to the airport in San Jose, Calif., a little after 8 p.m. on a Friday in December 2016. Identified as Jessica C. during the court proceedings to protect her identity, the woman was an 18-year-old college student at the time.
Jessica testified that not long after the ride had begun, the driver had unexpectedly turned down a street, kissed her, climbed on top of her, groped her breasts and tried to take off her pants. Jessica said she had told the driver, “No, no, no,” and tried to push him off. She said that she had feared he would rape or murder her and that after the incident she had dropped out of school and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a statement after the verdict, Matt Kallman, a spokesman for Uber, said the company’s work “to improve safety on our platform is never done.”
“Uber has worked for years to raise the bar on safety, and we’ll continue to do so in the years ahead,” he added.
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The post Uber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases Follow appeared first on New York Times.
