Uber hit with Canada-wide sexual assault class-action lawsuit
Editor’s note: This article discusses sexual violence and assault.
A class-action lawsuit has been filed in Canada against Uber, and it’s focused on sexual assault.
Consumer Law Group (CLG) announced on March 18 that it had instituted the nationwide class action “on behalf of passengers that were sexually assaulted, assaulted, battered, raped, kidnapped, forcibly confined, stalked, harassed, otherwise attacked or subjected to other sexual misconduct by an Uber driver with whom they had been paired through the Uber App.”
The Group alleges that Uber became aware as early as 2014 about its drivers “physically and/or sexually assaulting and raping female passengers” but failed to implement meaningful safety measures that would help to avoid or mitigate such crimes.
“Since 2017, at least 14 Uber drivers in four provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Québec) are reported to have been charged with sexual assault, with at least seven reported cases resulting in convictions,” reads a statement of claims submitted to the King’s Bench in Manitoba. “In at least three reported cases, Uber drivers have been sentenced to imprisonment.
In its release, CLG shared that Uber received 5,981 reports of sexual assault in 2017 and 2018. “Among those, there were 464 reports of rape and 19 deaths caused by physical assault,” it added.
Uber was fined $59 million by the California Public Utilities Commission after the first report for not turning over additional sexual assault and harassment incident data on its platform. The fine was later reduced, and a settlement was reached in 2021, in which Uber agreed to pay US$9 million toward safety-related initiatives.
CLG also talked about another US-focused safety report where Uber received 3,824 reports of the “five most severe categories of sexual assault,” ranging from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration” or rape in 2019 and 2020. Of these, 141 were reports of rape and 20 deaths caused by physical assault.
The class action, filed by a plaintiff only known as CK, also targets Uber for marketing its rides as safe but not doing enough to make them safe.
“Both before 2014 and after, Uber actively and aggressively marketed the supposed safety of its transportation services. These efforts continue to this day,” a document reads.
The class action stresses that Uber should continuously monitor its drivers, require them to submit their fingerprints and run background checks against all public databases available (including police records) when someone applies to become a driver.
The lawsuit also criticized Uber’s decision not to interview or train drivers to ensure they “understood their responsibilities and what was appropriate and inappropriate when interacting with passengers.”
“[Uber] failed to provide an option in the Uber App that allowed female riders to select to be driven by female drivers,” CLG further pointed out. “[It is] Uber’s policy that if it learns from an Uber rider that she was sexually assaulted, Uber will not report this sexual assault to law enforcement.”
Daily Hive contacted Uber for a statement. The company declined to comment on the class-action lawsuit due to “pending litigation” and shared all its safety features available in Canada.
“Safety is at the heart of the Uber platform, which is why we take the utmost care to make sure we follow processes set out by the law,” a spokesperson for Uber told us.
They stressed that in Manitoba, where the case was filed, Uber drivers must complete a police background check “with Vulnerable Sector Search and a Child Abuse Registry application before starting to drive with Uber.”
“A driver is also screened for their driving record. All screenings are required to be completed annually to maintain platform access,” they concluded.
In 2023, Uber rolled out accounts for teens, allowing unaccompanied minors aged 13 to 17 to use their parent or guardian’s Uber account to book trips in certain Canadian cities. Several special safety features were specified in this rollout, and its safety levels were debated online.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual or physical assault by an Uber driver, complete this form to keep track of case updates and potential compensation.
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