Uber moved into the aftermath of a jury verdict after a federal trial in Arizona concluded that the company was legally responsible for a sexual assault alleged to have occurred during a rideshare trip booked through its app. The jury reached a decision on Thursday, ordering Uber to pay $8.5 million to the woman who brought the civil case, according to reporting on the verdict.
The case focused on whether Uber could be held liable for the alleged conduct of a driver classified as a contractor rather than an employee. Plaintiff’s attorneys argued the driver functioned as an “apparent agent” of the company, and they said the jury accepted that legal theory.
Ellyn Hurd, an attorney representing Jaylynn Dean, said the company’s approach to safety played into what the jury found. She told The Associated Press, “Uber spends billions of dollars to make all riders feel like they’re (riding) with Uber. And that is what the jury found yesterday,” describing how the verdict tied Uber to the driver’s actions as “apparent agency.” Hurd also said her team was “very proud of our client for facing such a huge, powerful company,” and she said the jury’s decision could have significant impact for similar cases.
Uber, for its part, said it plans to appeal. In a statement, spokesperson Andrew Hasbun said the verdict “affirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested meaningfully in rider safety,” and he added that the award was “far below” the full amount initially requested by Dean’s lawyers.
The lawsuit arose from an incident in November 2023. According to the complaint described in court, Dean, who was 19 at the time, was riding in an Uber vehicle after celebrating her upcoming graduation from flight attendant training at her boyfriend’s home in Arizona. During the trip, the complaint alleged, the driver stopped the car, entered the back seat, and raped Dean. The driver was not named as a party in the civil suit.
Dean’s lawsuit also argued that Uber had long known about assaults involving its drivers and that it did not implement safety measures needed to stop the problem. The complaint, filed in December 2023, described Uber’s response as “slow and inadequate,” and it said the company’s handling put “the lives and well-being of its customers at grave risk.”
In addition to the apparent-agency question, the trial also addressed broader allegations about Uber’s safety systems. Uber said the jury did not find the company negligent or determine that its safety systems were defective, according to Hasbun’s statement. While the outcome delivered a monetary award for the plaintiff, Uber’s attorney-led framing emphasized that the jury’s findings did not align with claims that the company’s systems were flawed.
Uber has said it has taken steps to improve safety on its platform, including an effort with Lyft that it described as creating a database of drivers ousted from ride-hailing services tied to complaints over sexual assault and other crimes. The company also said reports of sexual assaults have decreased, citing Uber data for incidents reported in U.S. rides between 2017 and 2018 and compared with 2021 to 2022, the latest years with data available in the reporting. Critics, however, said ridesharing companies need stronger guardrails and clearer accountability in cases of assault.
Sarah London, another attorney representing Dean, said the verdict validated survivors who come forward. She told The Associated Press that the decision validates “survivors who have come forward at great personal risk to demand accountability against Uber,” adding that “the work is far from over.” London said thousands of other cases remain and that “justice will ultimately be measured by the outcomes of the ongoing litigation and whether meaningful safety reforms are implemented to protect passengers going forward.”
Uber’s case also highlighted the sensitivity of naming alleged sexual abuse victims in public reporting. The AP generally does not name people who say they were sexually abused unless they have given consent through their attorneys or come forward publicly, as Dean has done through her lawyers.