Lyft Sexual Assault Lawsuits to Be Consolidated in Federal Court in Major Step
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More than a dozen lawsuits claiming that Lyft failed to protect passengers will now be consolidated in federal court. On Thursday, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation formally approved the formation of a Lyft sexual assault lawsuit multidistrict litigation (MDL).
MDLs are usually created when many similar lawsuits are filed or expected to be filed. The cases are assigned to a single judge, allowing them to move through the legal process together in a coordinated fashion.
Lawyers representing plaintiffs often push for MDLs to streamline the legal process. Lyft, on the other hand, had been against the consolidation of these cases.
Now, 17 cases will be grouped together before Judge Rita Lin in California federal court. More lawsuits will likely be filed there in the coming weeks and months.
A separate MDL was previously created for Uber sexual assault cases and currently includes more than 3,000 lawsuits. Last week, a jury ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to a woman who says she was assaulted by a driver in one of the first rideshare sexual assault cases to go before a jury.
Lyft Sexual Assault Lawsuits Claim Company Failed to Protect Passengers
Dozens of Lyft lawsuits claim that the rideshare company failed to implement proper safety precautions that could have kept passengers safe.
People who have filed lawsuits argue that Lyft was aware of driver assaults on passengers for years but failed to make changes that could have better protected against these incidents.
“Lyft’s response to this sexual predator crisis amongst Lyft drivers has been appallingly inadequate,” one lawsuit states. “Lyft continues to hire drivers without performing adequate background checks. Lyft continues to allow culpable drivers to keep driving for Lyft.”
In addition to the lawsuits filed in federal court, dozens of other Lyft cases are already pending in California state court.
