Uber recently reported discovering over 100 cases where passengers alleging sexual assault or harassment by drivers submitted fraudulent or doctor receipts to validate their claims, or simply failed to provide any proof of their ride.
In a legal filing submitted on Wednesday, Uber urged U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco to scrutinize these questionable receipts, which led 90 plaintiffs to produce actual receipts or provide more detailed explanations for their claims.
At least 11 law firms are representing different plaintiffs, according to legal documents. These firms either did not respond or had no immediate comment when asked for input on Thursday. Importantly, they have not been accused of engaging in fraud.
Uber is attempting to limit its liability in federal lawsuits across the U.S., including over 2,450 lawsuits about driver misconduct, and is also dealing with many more lawsuits in San Francisco Superior Court.
The company asserts that it should not be held liable for the criminal acts of drivers during rides and argues that its background checks and disclosures are adequate safeguards.
On July 8, Judge Breyer dismissed claims alleging fraud and liability linked to Uber’s marketing of its ride-sharing services as a safer alternative to drunk driving.
In its Wednesday submission, Uber indicated that some of the false receipts may have been created using third-party websites.
These fraudulent receipts sometimes contained math errors, incorrectly categorized female drivers as male, or featured timestamps that did not align with the ride itself. In a peculiar case, one plaintiff submitted two versions of receipts for a single ride, while two separate plaintiffs presented different iterations of the same receipt.
Uber maintains, “There’s nothing more important to the integrity of the judicial system than integrity.” The company expressed concerns about what it termed a serious misrepresentation in evidence from the plaintiffs.
This case is currently being addressed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, under case number 23-03084, related to a passenger sexual assault lawsuit against Re Uber Technologies Inc.
