Doe v. Uber Techs., Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 June 2022
• Docket Number: B310131
• Parties: Jane DOE NO. 1 et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., et al., Defendants and Respondents.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

79 Cal.App.5th 410

294 Cal.Rptr.3d 664

Jane DOE NO. 1 et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants,

v.UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC., et al., Defendants and Respondents.

B310131

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 1, California.

Filed June 1, 2022

FEM Law Group, F. Edie Mermelstein; Rizio Lipinsky and Darren Pirozzi for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Perkins Coie, Bobbie J. Wilson, San Francisco, Julie L. Hussey, Julian Feldbein-Vinderman, San Diego, and Gregory F. Miller for Defendants and Respondents.

Morrison & Foerster and James R. Sigel, San Francisco, for Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.

ROTHSCHILD, P. J.

The instant appeal is from a judgment of dismissal following a successful demurrer by respondents Uber Technologies, Inc., Rasier-CA, LLC, and Rasier, LLC (collectively, the Uber entities) to a complaint filed against them by appellants, Jane Doe Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (collectively, the Jane Does). The Jane Does are women who were abducted and then sexually assaulted by assailants who lured the Jane Does into their vehicles by posing as authorized drivers of the Uber entities’ ridesharing app (Uber or the Uber app). The assailants were not affiliated with Uber or the Uber entities, but had obtained Uber decals from the Uber website and affixed them to their vehicles. The Jane Does’ operative complaint refers to this means of abducting and assaulting women who are attempting to use the Uber app as "the fake Uber scheme." The complaint alleges the Uber business model created the risk that criminals would employ this scheme, then failed to protect potential victims from it. Specifically, the complaint alleges respondents negligently failed to warn the Jane Does about the fake Uber scheme, failed to implement additional safety precautions to protect them against third parties employing the fake Uber scheme, and concealed instances of sexual assault via the fake Uber scheme while they continued to advertise Uber as a safe means of transportation for women. The trial court sustained the demurrer to the operative complaint without leave to amend and dismissed the complaint with prejudice.

We affirm. On the facts alleged, the Uber entities were not in a special relationship with the Jane Does that would give rise to a duty to protect the Jane Does against third party assaults, or to warn them about the same. The complaint thus did not allege actionable nonfeasance. Nor does the complaint allege actionable misfeasance, because the Uber entities’ alleged actions did not create the risk that criminals would take advantage of the existence of the Uber app to abduct and rape women trying to use it. Although it is foreseeable that third parties could abuse the platform in this way, such crime must be a "necessary component" of the Uber app or the Uber entities’ actions in order for the Uber entities to be held liable, absent a special relationship between the parties. ( Sakiyama v. AMF Bowling Centers, Inc. (2003) 110 Cal.App.4th 398, 408, 1 Cal.Rptr.3d 762 ( Sakiyama ).) Further, the additional facts the Jane Does argue they would allege if granted leave to amend likewise do not reflect misfeasance or nonfeasance giving rise to the requisite duty to protect, nor do they provide a basis for a special relationship. The trial court correctly concluded that, on the facts alleged in the operative complaint, the Uber entities cannot be held liable for causing or contributing to the Jane Does’ harm.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

In reviewing a judgment of dismissal after a demurrer, "we must assume the truth of all facts properly pleaded by the plaintiffs, as well as those that are judicially noticeable." ( Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. City of La Habra (2001) 25 Cal.4th 809, 814, 107 Cal.Rptr.2d 369, 23 P.3d 601.) The operative complaint and select information of which we take judicial notice¹ provide the following factual background.

A. The Uber Business Model

The Uber entities operate a technology company that connects individuals looking for transportation with authorized drivers. Users request a ride through the Uber app on their smartphones. The Uber app uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology available within one's smartphone device to identify the user's location, as well as a nearby available driver. The user then meets the driver at an "individually designated pickup location." The Uber app also has " ‘safety features’ " to help users identify their authorized driver. When the rider is matched with a driver, the Uber app provides the rider with the authorized driver's "name, picture, and license plate," as well as a description of the car. The GPS technology also allows the rider to track their driver's progress, so they can see when their authorized driver is nearby.

Uber drivers distinguish themselves from other cars through the use of an Uber decal. The Uber entities’ "website has a ‘print at home’ feature where anyone with a computer and a printer can print out the identifying emblem to affix to any vehicle." Uber does not attempt to monitor the use or distribution of decals and does not retrieve Uber decals from drivers deactivated for any reason, including those deactivated based on the driver committing sexual assault.

The Uber entities market Uber as a safe alternative to drinking and driving. One of the pages on its website advertises its partnership with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and urges individuals to use Uber's service instead of attempting to drive home after they have been drinking. Uber advertisements depict young female passengers riding in Uber vehicles alongside slogans referring to safety.

Uber's website also has a general "rider safety webpage," and includes a paragraph entitled, "Getting a Safe Ride" that reads: "Safe pickups [¶] The Uber app automatically finds your location to provide door-to-door service. That means you stay safe and comfortable wherever you are until your driver arrives."

B. Uber's Knowledge of and Reactions to Incidents of Sexual Assault by Third Parties Posing As Uber Drivers

The Uber entities "were put on notice as early as November 2014 of the fake uber scheme," based on reports in numerous American cities and Canada. This scheme "has been known to the Uber [entities] as early as 2016 to be occurring at popular and crowded nightclub/ bar/restaurant locations in and around Los Angeles." "[T]he Los Angeles Police Department and immediately surrounding jurisdictions have contacted [the] Uber [entities] ... multiple times to alert [them] of additional victims and the continued perpetration of this fake Uber scheme." "Uber passengers have reported sexual misconduct including rapes" in the Los Angeles area, nationally, and internationally, "to the Uber [entities’] serious incident unit," but "the serious incident unit's agents are forbidden ... from routing allegations to police or from advising victims to seek legal counsel or make their own police reports." The Uber entities have been "silencing assault victims with monetary confidential settlements." The Uber entities have been fined for their refusal to report data on sexual assaults to the CPUC.

C. The Abductions of and Assaults on the Jane Does

As noted, each of the Jane Does was sexually assaulted after using the Uber app between June 2017 and February 2018.² On the nights in question, each Jane Doe used the Uber app to arrange for a ride home after a night out socializing and "consum[ing] alcohol" at "popular Los Angeles night spots," specifically dance clubs in West Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles. After doing so, each received confirmation that their authorized Uber driver was on the way, and the name, picture, and license plate number of their authorized driver, along with a description of the driver's car.

Before the authorized Uber drivers arrived, however, other cars bearing Uber decals pulled up, the drivers of which held themselves out to be the ride home each Jane Doe had requested via the Uber app. Two of the Jane Does did not attempt to verify this before getting into the imposter's car by checking the picture, license plate number, or car description provided in the Uber app. One Jane Doe "noticed the license plate did not match" the license plate number shown in the Uber app, but the imposter driver convinced her that he had recently crashed his car and "hadn't had time to update the app." Ultimately, each Jane Doe entered a car driven by a rapist posing as an Uber driver, who abducted and raped her. None of the sexual predators committing these assaults was an authorized Uber driver.

In the months before each Jane Doe was assaulted, the "Los Angeles Police Department and/or the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department" contacted the Uber entities and "put [them] on notice of sexual predators who were posing as, or actual, rideshare drivers ... specifically seeking out young[,] inebriated women who have engaged the Uber [a]pp ... and were waiting for pick[-]up within a five-mile radius located in Los Angeles County." All three of the Jane Does were abducted in this area, which "includes a concentrated three block area in West Hollywood" and "downtown Los Angeles." The Uber entities "did not immediately cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation [of Jane Doe No. 3’s rape,] taking more than seven weeks to respond to search warrants ..., which the detective [indicated] ... was consistent with the Uber [entities’] ... prior conduct with the policing agency."

D. The Jane Does’ Lawsuit

The Jane Does sued the Uber entities. The trial court sustained the Uber entities’ demurrer to the Jane Does’ first amended complaint with leave to amend. The Jane Does filed a second amended complaint (the SAC), the operative complaint in the action, which alleges negligence and strict product liability causes of action.

Through the SAC, the Jane Does seek to hold Uber liable for failing to warn them about or implement other measures to protect them against rapists...