Lawsuits Filed Against Lyft For Sexual Assault Featured
New class action lawsuits allege that Lyft failed to protect both passengers and drivers from physical and sexual assault.
Ride share apps have seen a significant increase in use over the past decade, and unfortunately, reports of ride share sexual abuse have also surged, leading to numerous Lyft and Uber lawsuits.
Lyft Assaults Lawsuits
The San Francisco-based ride sharing company Lyft is facing 17 new lawsuits brought by users of its service from around the country, who claim the company failed to protect passengers and drivers from physical and sexual assault.
Of the lawsuits, 14 were from people who said they were sexually assaulted while using Lyft, and three said they were physically assaulted.
Lyft Management Does Nothing In Response To Assaults
All of the drivers and passengers said Lyft did practically nothing to help them after they reported their assaults, other than telling them they were sorry for their experience and that they would suspend the account of the driver or passenger who assaulted them. Two drivers said Lyft offered them a few hundred dollars after they reported their assaults, but did not follow up with them afterward.
Assault victims called on Lyft to make its service safer by installing cameras inside of all Lyft vehicles, conducting biometric fingerprint scans and background checks for drivers, and eliminating a policy that allows users to order a Lyft ride for someone else.
The lawsuits allege that the company does not care about its passengers or drivers and that the main focus of the company is to protect is its profit margins.
The lawsuits also claim that Lyft’s policy of not sharing user information after an assault without a court order creates a major obstacle to even the most basic criminal investigations or civil protective orders. This policy puts Lyft on the side of the perpetrators and not the victims.
In 2021, Lyft revealed it had received over 4,000 reports of sexual assault from its users between 2017 and 2019. That report also showed that instances of sexual assault increased year after year, and included 360 total reports of non-consensual sexual penetration and 2,300 reports of “non-consensual touching of a sexual body part.”