550 women who claim they were abused by drivers using the ride-hailing app are suing Uber in the US.
Allegations in the complaint include that Uber drivers have “kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually beat, raped, wrongfully imprisoned, followed, tormented, or otherwise harmed women passengers.”
On Wednesday, the matter was submitted to the San Francisco County Superior Court.
A representative for Uber informed the reporters, “Sexual assault is a heinous crime, and we treat every case seriously.
“Safety is paramount, which is why Uber has developed new safety measures, implemented survivor-centric policies, and increased its level of transparency on significant occurrences. While we are unable to comment on ongoing litigation, we will continue to put safety first in all that we do “Added they.
The sexual assaults allegedly occurred in “several states,” according to the lawsuit, which was brought by lawyers at the law firm Slater Slater Schulman.
Additionally, it stated that at least 150 other probable instances are “being researched.”
According to the lawsuit, Uber knew that some of its drivers were raping and sexually abusing female passengers as early as 2014. The suit, however, asserts that the corporation put “expansion before client safety.”
According to Adam Slater, founding partner of Slater Slater Schulman, “Uber’s whole business model is built on offering people a safe ride home, yet rider safety was never their focus – development was, at the expense of their passengers’ safety.”
Uber published its second US Safety Report last month, revealing that 998 sexual assault occurrences, including 141 rape claims, were reported in 2020.
The business said in the report that between 2019 and 2020, it had received 3,824 reports of the five most serious types of sexual assault.
There were 5,981 allegations of sexual assault in the company’s first safety report, which covers incidences from 2017 to 2018.
The most severe types of sexual assault reported by Uber include rape and “non-consensual sexual penetration,” or the “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part.”