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A US jury in Arizona has ordered Uber to pay $8.5m to a woman who said she was raped by a man driving for the ride‑hailing company. The federal trial, heard in Arizona, ended after two days of deliberation with jurors finding Uber responsible for the driver’s conduct. The ruling could set an important precedent affecting thousands of other claims against the company.
The jury rejected additional claims made in the lawsuit, including that Uber had been negligent and that its safety systems were defective.
The plaintiff, Jaylynn Dean, said she was sexually assaulted in the car, while taking an Uber to her hotel in 2023. She said Uber had been aware of a wave of sexual assaults committed by its drivers but had not taken basic action to improve safety.
The jury found the company was liable under the apparent agency doctrine - meaning Uber was held responsible for the driver's actions while he worked on the company's behalf - resulting in the $8.5m in compensatory damages.
It did not back Dean's claim for more than $144m in punitive damages against the firm.
A lead lawyer for Dean said the decision "validates the thousands of survivors who have come forward at great personal risk".
Attorney Sarah London added that justice would "ultimately be measured by the outcomes of the ongoing litigation and whether meaningful safety reforms are implemented to protect passengers going forward".
Dean's lawsuit was among the first in a selection of 20 so-called "bellwether" cases against Uber set to go to trial one after another.
These are expected to set some precedent for decisions in roughly 2,500 other federal court cases in which plaintiffs are making similar claims against Uber.
Uber said it intended to appeal against the verdict.
