Orlando, Florida
CNN
—
A Florida lady sued Lyft earlier this month, alleging that she was raped by her Lyft driver in 2019 and that the assault resulted within the beginning of her third little one. The swimsuit is the newest in a string of sexual assault allegations involving the corporate.
Lyft has pushed again on the allegations within the lawsuit, telling CNN in a press release that the alleged assault passed off throughout an “off-app” trip hours after an official Lyft trip with the identical driver. The corporate additionally stated it solely grew to become conscious of the alleged incident years after it passed off.
Plaintiff Tabatha Means acknowledged that what she had hoped could be a brief trip again to the place she was staying after an evening out shortly grew to become uncomfortable when the motive force requested her to sit down within the entrance seat, after which started complimenting and inappropriately touching her, in accordance with the complaint filed January 10 in California Northern District Court docket.
After they arrived at her vacation spot, the motive force allegedly insisted on serving to her inside, “purportedly as a consequence of her intoxication,” and regardless of her protests. As soon as inside, he assaulted her repeatedly, the criticism states.
Lyft rider who says driver raped and impregnated her tells CNN her story
Means’ lawsuit is simply the newest authorized motion in opposition to a rideshare firm over alleged sexual assault or misconduct. Lyft — like its competitor Uber — has confronted dozens of lawsuits over the difficulty. Whereas a lot of the civil litigation in opposition to the corporate stays ongoing, Lyft has denied the allegations in opposition to it. Individually, a minimum of a handful of Lyft drivers accused of sexual assault have been convicted in felony instances.
The swimsuit additionally comes as some states have sought to implement tighter security restrictions for rideshare firms, in addition to increased protections for the businesses’ drivers. Illinois lawmakers final yr proposed a bill that might maintain Uber and Lyft to the next security customary, which the businesses opposed.
Lyft has repeatedly stated that its service is protected, noting that such assaults are extraordinarily uncommon and pointing to elevated security measures it has launched in recent times, akin to the flexibility to “share” a trip so a good friend can monitor its progress, and an emergency alert feature in partnership with safety firm ADT.
The corporate additionally says it has an “around-the-clock” security crew and an automatic security check-in function, the place the app will ship a notification asking if a rider and driver are okay if a trip goes off-route, stops for an uncommon period of time, or is canceled after pick-up.
“Security is key to Lyft and the conduct described has no place in our society,” Lyft stated in a press release in response to Means’ lawsuit. Lyft has not but formally responded to the lawsuit in courtroom.
“The alleged incident from 2019 didn’t happen on the Lyft platform whereas utilizing the Lyft app, however reasonably concerned a separate journey organized between the people concerned. Lyft has labored to design insurance policies and options that defend each drivers and riders, and we’re all the time working to make Lyft a good safer platform,” the corporate stated.
Lyft additionally famous that greater than 99% of rides on the platform happen with none security report.
Means and her lawyer dispute Lyft’s characterization of the assault as taking place outdoors of an app-initiated trip.
Means alleges that she grew to become pregnant from the alleged assault and, after a troublesome being pregnant, gave beginning to her son at simply 33 weeks of gestation, the criticism states. Genetic testing later confirmed with “99.9999999998%” certainty that the Lyft driver is the kid’s father, in accordance with the criticism.
“Day-after-day is a battle,” Means instructed CNN in an interview Friday. “I can’t think about a day of my life with out that little boy that was a shock and never anticipated, however he’s every thing to me … However day by day remains to be laborious.”
Means says she now suffers psychological well being and monetary points due to the alleged rape and subsequent being pregnant, the criticism states.
Means and Lyft have completely different variations of the occasions they are saying passed off on that night time in April 2019.
Lyft stated an inner investigation discovered that the motive force gave Means an on-platform trip to her authentic vacation spot earlier within the night time and {that a} separate trip was later organized with the identical driver off-platform to take Means again from the bar, after which the alleged assault passed off.
The corporate claims that hours handed between that authentic Lyft trip and when the alleged assault occurred. Lyft declined to additional element the method of its investigation to CNN, citing the pending litigation.
Lyft has additionally stated Means’ accused rapist has not pushed for the platform for a number of years, though it declined to supply extra specifics about precisely when or why he stopped.
The motive force was not named within the lawsuit or by the corporate. It’s not clear whether or not the motive force had beforehand been the topic of any authorized motion or complaints on the app.
However Means stated she noticed that driver solely as soon as that night time — on a Lyft trip from a bar again to the place she was staying. The trip was ordered by her ex-husband, who she’d been out with that night time whereas her children have been house with a nanny and who left after ordering her trip, in accordance with Means.
As she left the bar, “a automobile arrived with a Lyft gentle turned on and visual. The Lyft driver rolled down the passenger facet window, and Plaintiff confirmed the Lyft driver was there for her,” the criticism states.
Means instructed CNN: “I need to inform everybody … that I didn’t need it. I had by no means met that man earlier than in my life.”
A Lyft receipt from the trip with the accused rapist supplied by Means’ legal professional reveals an 11-minute trip shortly after midnight from a residential space to a avenue lined with eating places and bars. The legal professional stated the receipt doesn’t mirror the total trip and that she believes the motive force inappropriately “ended” the trip on the app shortly after Means obtained within the automobile on the bar, one thing Means wouldn’t have recognized on the time as a result of she didn’t order the trip herself.
“This incident completely concerned a visit booked via the Lyft App, and Lyft’s try to deflect legal responsibility is an ideal instance of its dangerous religion dealing with of this disaster,” Rachel Abrams, a associate at regulation agency Peiffer Wolf who’s representing Means, stated in a press release. “There isn’t a dispute Tabatha’s Lyft driver repeatedly raped her leading to being pregnant and the beginning of her son.”
Abrams stated in a press conference asserting the swimsuit final week that “the info of the case will come via the litigation and thru discovery.”
Lyft has additionally famous that Means didn’t report the alleged assault to police, nor to the corporate, on the time.
Means instructed CNN that she feared on the time that she wouldn’t be believed. (Within the US, two out of three rapes usually are not reported to police, actually because victims concern retaliation or not being believed, according to anti-sexual assault organization RAINN.)
“All of this stuff are in my head, I’ve all these causes nobody will consider me … I used to be drunk,” Means stated, including that the following morning she additionally needed to get house to her kids. “It is smart now, I ought to have gone to the hospital and possibly gotten a rape package.”
It wasn’t till she was approaching her son’s first birthday that Means stated she realized, “one thing horrible occurred to me … I’ve obtained to say one thing.”
A Google seek for “Lyft assault” finally led her to Abrams, whose agency has represented quite a few girls accusing the corporate of failing to guard them from being assaulted throughout rides. Means tried to resolve her case with Lyft via mediation previous to submitting the lawsuit, in accordance with Abrams.
Means has not filed felony or different prices in opposition to the motive force. Abrams famous that given the time that has handed for the reason that alleged assault passed off, it could possibly be more durable to achieve a felony case than within the civil case in opposition to the corporate. After genetic testing indicated the motive force was her little one’s father, Means stated she declined to hunt little one help as a result of she didn’t need additional interplay with him.
Following a Might 2018 investigation by CNN into sexual assault and abuse incidents by rideshare drivers, Lyft and Uber each dedicated to releasing security transparency stories detailing inner information on essentially the most extreme incidents on their platforms.
The 2 firms additionally announced at the time that they’d now not drive clients with claims of sexual assault into arbitration.
In 2021, Lyft and Uber said they would share between the 2 firms the names of drivers and supply folks deactivated from their platforms over essentially the most severe security incidents, together with sexual assaults.
Months later, Lyft released its transparency report, disclosing that it acquired a complete of 4,158 stories of sexual assault on its platform in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The report famous that among the many sexual assault stories it acquired, 360 have been stories of rape, which accounted for about one in each 5 million rides.
Lyft in 2022 agreed to a $25 million settlement with shareholders over allegations that it didn’t adequately disclose dangers to its repute and enterprise associated to issues of safety, together with stories of drivers assaulting passengers.
Along with searching for unspecified monetary damages, Means’ lawsuit urges Lyft to proceed to develop its security measures, together with by enhancing its background examine and driver hiring procedures.
Lyft says all candidates searching for to grow to be new drivers are topic to driving incident screens, in addition to felony background checks carried out by third-party company Checkr, which embrace a Social Safety quantity hint, a nationwide felony search, federal and county courtroom data searches and a US Justice Division intercourse offender registry search.
The corporate stated it additionally conducts annual felony background checks on all drivers and steady driving document and felony monitoring. Lyft’s steady felony document monitoring began in April 2019, the month of Means’ alleged rape.
In December 2019, Lyft additionally started requiring drivers to finish a group security schooling program developed by RAINN.
The app additionally launched “Girls+ Join” final yr, a function that lets girls and nonbinary drivers get matched to choose up extra girls and nonbinary riders.
However Means’ lawsuit encourages Lyft to go additional, together with by conducting screening interviews “both in particular person or via on-line platforms akin to Skype or Zoom” and “biometric fingerprinting” as a part of its hiring course of.
“By failing to take cheap steps to confront the issue of a number of rapes and sexual assaults of Lyft passengers by Lyft drivers, Lyft has acted in aware disregard of the protection of its passengers, together with Plaintiff, [and] has breached its obligation of cheap care,” the criticism states.
Means stated she additionally needs different rideshare app customers to know of the potential issues of safety of getting another person order a trip for them, together with not having the ability to simply entry the app’s emergency alert function.
“You see [the Lyft driver’s] gentle on, and so they say your title, and also you get in that automobile, and [you think] you’re going to be okay, and I trusted that,” Means stated throughout final week’s press convention. “And I I’m very upset with myself for not opening my mouth sooner.”