Lyft Sexual Assault Lawsuits

Women who are filing lawsuits say that they were sexually assaulted by their Lyft driver and that the rideshare service did not do enough to protect them.

Lawsuits argue that Lyft prioritized growth over safety, focusing on building a massive fleet of drivers and taking advantage of inadequate background checks to do so.

“The more drivers, the more rides, the more money Lyft makes,” one lawsuit states. “Unfortunately, because more careful screening and supervision would result in fewer drivers and lower profits, Lyft has chosen not to implement those necessary procedures.”

In addition to claims of lax background checks, lawsuits also argue that Lyft could have taken steps to make riders safer but chose not to. They say that the company has failed to:

• Maintain active surveillance cameras in cars
• Adopt a zero-tolerance policy for improper conduct by drivers
• Save camera footage for up to 72 hours after each ride
• Tell drivers that they cannot accompany a passenger to their home or any other location outside the vehicle

Lawsuits also claim that Lyft knew for years that its drivers were committing sexual assaults. The company has received passenger complaints and police notifications since at least 2015.

In 2021, the company released a safety report showing that it had received more than 4,000 complaints of sexual assault in a three-year span.

Lawsuits Claim Lyft Relies on Inadequate Background Checks for Drivers

A key point of contention among the Lyft lawsuits is the company’s driver background checks, which are not as thorough as those commonly used by taxi companies.

Prospective Lyft drivers must submit their driver’s license and social security number through an online portal. A third party then runs a name-based background check that usually takes a few days.

The issue, lawsuits claim, is that name-based checks don’t do enough to prevent potentially dangerous drivers from being hired. The driver’s name is simply checked against public courthouse records, which are not linked together and often don’t go back more than seven years.

Almost all online applicants go on to become Lyft drivers.

Taxi companies, on the other hand, use fingerprinting in their background checks. Those fingerprints are then run through an FBI database, providing a more thorough search while also preventing against issues where a driver may have submitted a false name or identity not tied to past crimes.

“Because the FBI database is not accessed, there is no true national search performed, making these searches incomplete, limited and inaccurate,” lawsuits claim.

Lyft’s Partnership With It’s On Us

Lyft sexual assault lawsuits also claim that the company misrepresented the efforts it was putting into safety. In 2015, the company announced a partnership with It’s On Us, an anti-sexual assault initiative.

As part of this partnership, Lyft offered free ride credits to college students, positioning itself as a way for potential customers to get a safe ride home when going out. Lyft touted this partnership in multiple blog posts on its website.

“The insinuation of these articles is that Lyft prevents, and does not create, the risk of sexual assault,” lawsuits state. “Nowhere on Lyft’s website does Lyft discuss the occurrence or risk of sexual assault by Lyft’s drivers.”

Women who experienced a rideshare assault by a Lyft driver could qualify to file a lawsuit. This includes a wide range of claims, from unwanted touching to rape or kidnapping.

If you are interested in filing a lawsuit, a trusted attorney can help you assess your options. They can offer a free case review to learn more about the details of your cases and what next steps make the most sense for you.

Thousands of women have filed lawsuits against Lyft over these claims. Some lawsuits have been filed anonymously, with plaintiffs referred to as “Jane Doe.”

Evidence to Strengthen Your Lyft Lawsuit

To file a Lyft lawsuit, you will need to gather some documentation. This can include a receipt or evidence of the ride in question, showing that you used Lyft.

If you filed a police report following the incident, that can also be helpful evidence. However, a police report is not a necessity to file a lawsuit.

Your lawyer can help you determine what other evidence you might need to successfully file a case.

So far, there have not been any major settlements or verdicts for the Lyft sexual assault lawsuits. Lyft has not yet agreed to a global settlement for these cases, which remain active in both state and federal courts.

A potential settlement may not materialize until after some of these cases have gone to trial. Early trials are known as bellwethers since their outcomes can influence the direction of other lawsuits.

Bellwether trials give both sides a chance to see how their arguments hold up before a jury. If Lyft were to lose early trials, the company could be motivated to negotiate a settlement for thousands of other cases instead of risking taking more of them to trial.

While no Lyft cases have gone to trial yet, two Uber sexual assault lawsuits have. The first was won by Uber, but the company was ordered to pay $8.5 million in the second.

While the Uber litigation is completely separate from the Lyft cases, those trials are still a strong example of how rideshare lawsuits may perform before a jury.

As of March 2026, there are around 2,000 Lyft sexual assault lawsuits pending in state court. The federal MDL, which was established in 2026, includes 28 cases and is expected to grow.

The MDL is still in the very early stages, but is expected to pick up in the coming months. Lawsuits have been filed in state court for years, but none have advanced to trial yet.