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SALT LAKE CITY — One woman was heading home from a work dinner in Massachusetts. Another had spent a night with friends in Park City.
A third wanted a safe ride home from her birthday celebration in Georgia, and a fourth was trapped in a back seat as her husband watched the car speed away from their Los Angeles home.
They are among the latest onetime passengers to sue Lyft over allegations they were raped or sexually assaulted — mostly after falling asleep — by drivers for the ride-hailing company. The women are now calling for Lyft to record each ride on video to prevent such assaults, to conduct thorough background checks, and to work with victims and police.
“Lyft’s message to their drivers is that safety and accountability do not exist and it’s not important,” the women’s attorney, Michael Bomberger, told reporters Wednesday in San Francisco, where the rides-hailing service is based. “The Lyft platform is tailor-made for sexual predators.”
The suit, filed Wednesday in San Francisco on behalf of 20 women, comes after a similar legal complaint from 14 other passengers, including another Utah woman. They allege the company has hidden many assaults in its cars.
Lyft maintains it is continuously working on new features to protect riders and drivers.
“What these women describe is something no one should ever have to endure,” the company said in a statement. “Our work on safety is never done, and we will continue to invest in new features, protocols and policies to ensure Lyft is the safest form of transportation for our riders and drivers.”
New safety features in recent months include daily criminal background monitoring of drivers, emergency assistance via its app, and mandatory feedback for rides rated less than four stars so it learns of any problematic driver behavior. The company has brought on the anti-sexual assault organization RAINN to help with education on sexual violence prevention education.
Bomberger said Wednesday the added measures like a panic button on the app are “simply gimmicks.” Victims won’t be able to navigate an app while being assaulted, he said, and several women in the new suit were attacked after such features were introduced.
Several of his clients who spoke at the news conference urged other women against using the ride-hailing service during the holiday season and in the future.
Related:
Utah woman one of 14 in sexual assault lawsuit against Lyft
A Utah woman joined 13 others from seven states on Wednesday to file a lawsuit against the ride-hailing company Lyft, claiming they were sexually assaulted by their drivers.The Massachusetts passenger said her driver raped her in the back seat after driving her to a dark place with limited cell reception, so any safety mechanism on the app would not have helped her. When she fought back, her driver pushed her out of the car and shut the door on her wrists, dragging her for a time and running over her cellphone and purse.
“The fear of walking into a house and asking for help will never leave me,” she said. Her driver now is now serving a prison sentence for the attack.
The Utah woman alleges she became “terrified that the Lyft driver would take her somewhere and rape her, so she did not say a word” when he began assaulting her on Sept. 22. Instead, the woman identified as Jane Roe 6 “pulled herself as close as possible to the door,” then ran out of the car when the car arrived at her house. She reported the assault to Lyft and received a “scripted response,” a refund for the ride fare and a $5 credit, the suit says. Park City police said they don’t have a record of the assault.
Many who have lodged complaints with the company were told the drivers were no longer working for Lyft, but later spotted them continuing to drive for the company, Bomberger said. And the business would not disclose the drivers’ last names, which his clients sought in order secure protective orders because the drivers knew their home addresses, he said.
They are seeking unspecified damages.
The Lyft platform is tailor-made for sexual predators.
–Michael Bomberger
Bomberger said the company does not fingerprint drivers to ensure a thorough background check or require crimes to be reported to police. He declined to say why the lawsuits have targeted Lyft but no other rideshare companies.
The Utah woman who sued in the case filed earlier this year was scootering home while intoxicated on Dec. 7, 2018, when Lyft driver Nazim Ali Mavlod pulled up next to her and coerced her into his car, where he assaulted her.
She used the “help” feature on the app, receiving a message that someone would be in touch with her once they “start the review process,” the suit says. Mavlod pleaded no contest to battery, a class B misdemeanor, a conviction later dismissed under the terms of his plea in abeyance.
Another Lyft driver in Utah has been charged with grabbing a passenger’s hand in September 2018, placing it on his lap and forcing her “to squeeze his genitals” in Davis County, court documents say. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Eduardo Arce-Aguilar, 37, who police say is living in Bakersfield, California.
