Case Filed Against Uber Alleging Driver Raped Passenger
UPDATE: CNN reporting on over 100 cases of Uber drivers accused of sexual assault or abuse: http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/30/technology/uber-driver-sexual-assault/index.html
Female Passenger Files Lawsuit Against Uber and Uber Driver for Sexual Assault
Kansas City, MO – Stueve Siegel Hanson has filed a lawsuit against Uber Technologies, Inc. on behalf of a sexual assault victim referred to as Jane Doe. Ms. Doe, a postgraduate student in Kansas City, Missouri, was raped by her Uber driver Yahkhahnahn Ammi. Ammi is a felon previously convicted of attempted first degree murder with intent to kill.
Nearly a month prior to the attack on Ms. Doe, Uber was notified by another woman that Ammi viciously assaulted her and had a warrant out for his arrest in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis victim also expressly warned Uber that it should not continue to permit Ammi to pick up customers through the Uber application: “it is not safe to allow your riders to ride with him!!”
Uber acknowledged receiving the warning from the St. Louis victim, but still permitted Ammi to drive for Uber. Several weeks after Uber was notified of the St. Louis attack, Ms. Doe was raped by Ammi after using the Uber application to summon a safe ride home.
“It is shocking that Uber would hire someone convicted of attempted murder in the first place,” said Plaintiff’s attorney Norman E. Siegel. “But it is truly unconscionable that Uber would permit this driver to continue to drive for the company after Uber was expressly warned that he violently assaulted a woman and presented an immediate danger to Uber passengers.”
The lawsuit asserts claims for negligence, fraudulent concealment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims.
“Uber continuously markets its rides as safe and secure,” Siegel said. “But Uber’s egregious failure to responsibly screen and monitor its drivers puts all Uber customers at risk.”
Norman Siegel, Steve Six and Austin Moore of the law firm of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP (www.stuevesiegel.com) based in Kansas City, represent the Plaintiff. The litigation is styled Jane Doe v. Uber Technologies Inc., Case No. 1716-CV12741.
