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Uber Found Liable in Rape by Driver, Setting Stage for Cases
- Pwntastic 8mo agohttps://archive.ph/5wF6Z https://archive.ph/5wF6Z
- josefritzishere 8mo ago[flagged]
- hackingonempty 8mo agoThis is a civil case.
- hydrogen7800 8mo agoDo you think he knows the difference? Or cares?
- decremental 8mo ago[dead]
- josefritzishere 8mo agoHe has tried to act on state level cases before, though not successfully yet.
- josefritzishere 8mo agoUber was found liable of "apparent agency" if you are interested: https://legal-resources.uslegalforms.com/a/apparent-agency https://legal-resources.uslegalforms.com/a/apparent-agency
- richwater 8mo agoNo idea how you can hold a company liable for the crimes committed by employees, regardless of how awful those crimes might be. I assume this will get overturned.
- buellerbueller 8mo agoIs an owner of a dog that mauls someone responsible for damages to the victim?
- GaryBluto 8mo agoDo companies own their workers?
- buellerbueller 8mo agoThere are jobs where anything the employee does on company time is owned by the company.
- Edman274 8mo agoThe companies themselves certainly think they do when they give tasks for their workers by dictating the duration, manner, and other terms of employment. Why should they be able to have it both ways? No risk, all reward?
- quickthrowman 8mo agoIf one of my electricians accidentally bangs a sprinkler head and thousands of gallons of water dump into the building, my company is responsible for any damages. Obviously we’re insured against these risks, but we’re liable. There’s almost always a contract that spells it out, but in the situation where there is no explicit contract, I’d expect that we’re still liable. My electricians are W2 employees and not contractors, and it’s possible that construction has different laws regarding liability than a ride share company that uses contractors, so they’re not equivalent, and I am not a lawyer.
- 8mo ago
- charcircuit 8mo ago[flagged]
- buellerbueller 8mo agoIf the state knew the guy was a rapist, then Uber could have too, had it done due diligence prior to putting the guy in the car with someone else.
- plagiarist 8mo agoThe contractor is acting on behalf of the company though? We don't need yet more magical liability protections for billionaires, we need fewer.
- odysseus 8mo agoExactly. Also curious how the NY Times names the woman and the company reps but never names the rapist. This article does name him: https://www.nbcrightnow.com/online_features/press_releases/jury-finds-uber-liable-in-sexual-assault-case-involving-19-year-old-passenger-awards-8/article_a3e82a3a-70d0-50c7-9d15-7d549dec9362.html https://www.nbcrightnow.com/online_features/press_releases/j...
- croes 8mo ago> that drivers are independent contractors. Yeah sure. Totally independent from Uber.
- diggyhole 8mo ago[flagged]
- buellerbueller 8mo agoThe killer was the bullet, not the person who held the gun.
- diggyhole 8mo agoDid you stretch before that reach?
- buellerbueller 8mo agoI agree, both of our arguments are ridiculous.
- ceejayoz 8mo agoSure. But: > Over three weeks, jurors weighed the harrowing personal account of Ms. Dean as well as testimony from Uber executives and thousands of pages of internal company documents, including some showing that Uber had flagged her ride as a higher risk for a serious safety incident moments before she was picked up. Thus, civil liability. The rapist still goes down for the crime part.
- bombcar 8mo agoThe fact that Uber has a system that flags "RAPE LIKELY" and still picks "make the cash" is appalling.
- mc32 8mo agoI really would like to know what that means in actuality. It sounds scandalous here but what does it mean on the ground? Obviously diff interpretations and practice mean widely diverging truths on the ground with diverging responsibilities.
- ktallett 8mo agoDrivers are only independent contractors due to poor employment policy from Uber. They work for Uber, therefore Uber do have a duty of care to the users of their service. Now some may say that they only provide the platform similar to Silkroad, however the key difference is that the drivers are representing Uber, in Silkroad's case the sellers were not representing silkroad. If Uber wish to be seperate from those drivers, they need to provide the customer the chance to choose the driver, and have an appropriate review system.
- Ekaros 8mo agoUber isn't a marketplace like say Ebay. As such I expect them to be responsible for the actions of "contractors" they appointed to do the job. As the buyer couldn't freely choose the contractor.
- buellerbueller 8mo agoI think this is exactly the point that GP commenter is making.
- OutOfHere 8mo ago[flagged]
- kayodelycaon 8mo agoFrom the article, it was reported to the police. The lawsuit came later and Uber didn’t try to deny it happened. From a civil law perspective, it doesn’t matter who did it. The police report is substantial evidence that the event wasn’t made up for the purposes of the lawsuit. Her story was credible to the jury. And Uber’s own algorithms showed significant increased risk for that ride. In other words, Uber knew this could’ve happened and deliberately did not do anything to mitigate the risk. Even if a rape didn’t really occur in this specific case, Uber knows it has happened many times before. This isn’t a criminal case and they don’t get the assumption of innocence when they have a pattern of guilt. Let’s put it this way, it’s wrong to assume that an innocent man is always going to be abusive. It is reasonable to assume that someone with a long history of abuse will continue to be abusive.
- OutOfHere 8mo ago[flagged]
- bdcravens 8mo agoThe driver acknowledged he knew she was drunk, and that he didn't get explicit consent. Uber had already flagged it internally as a high-risk ride (drunk female, alone) and didn't take additional security measures.
- OutOfHere 8mo ago[flagged]
- buellerbueller 8mo agoThen perhaps Uber should find a new business model? Lyft lets women specifically request a female driver.
- jqpabc123 8mo agoIf Uber can be held liable for driver's actions then Tesla can be held liable for "Full Self Driving" cars that aren't.
- buellerbueller 8mo agoLet's hope.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- itsdesmond 8mo agoLet’s uh not change the subject.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 8mo agoJudgment for 8.5 million https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.419089/gov.uscourts.cand.419089.5203.0.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.41... Is this the first of many to come