Uber has been sued by more than 500 women who allege they were sexually assaulted, harassed or attacked by Uber drivers, law firm Slater Slater Schulman announced in a press release.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges that 550 women across several states including California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts had been “kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers.”
In addition to the 550 women currently involved in the civil suit, another 150 cases are being looked into by the law firm.
Uber’s second US safety report was released last month. It included 141 rape reports in 2020.
In 2015, Uber was sued for sexual assault, and in 2018 it faced additional allegations and reports of rape. Its first US safety report, released in late 2019, noted nearly 500 rape reports in two years.
“While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences,” said Adam Slater, founding partner of Slater Slater Schulman. “There is so much more that Uber can be doing to protect riders: adding cameras to deter assaults, performing more robust background checks on drivers, creating a warning system when drivers don’t stay on a path to a destination.”
In 2019, Uber added a number of safety features, including the ability to directly text 911 responders. It also has RideCheck, which pings drivers and passengers if it detects an unusually long stop or crash.
Uber said it cannot comment on ongoing litigation.
