Uber faces 550-passenger lawsuit over alleged rape and assault in US

theguardian.com:

Uber is facing a lawsuit from at least 550 former passengers alleging a systematic failure to prevent violence against women on its platform.

In the lawsuit, filed at San Francisco county superior court on Wednesday, the company is accused of failing to protect female passengers who “were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked by Uber drivers”.

Adam Slater, a partner at Slater Slater Schulman, which is representing the women, said: “While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences.

“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.”

Slater said his firm was investigating more than 150 further cases for inclusion in the lawsuit.

The initial filing represents five women, each acting as anonymous litigants, from across the US. Their stories of rape, sexual assault and battery are intended to reflect those of the wider group of litigants.

The case alleges that the attacks on them are caused by “the toxic-male culture at Uber … A culture which started at the very top of Uber by placing profits and growth over safety above all else and, in the process, exploited, endangered, and injured women and girls.

“Uber knew that it faced an ongoing problem of sexual predators driving for Uber and assaulting its passengers. As early as 2014 Uber knew that its drivers were sexually assaulting female passengers,” the complaint alleges. “Nevertheless, even though Uber was fully aware