This hit close for me - I have a female coworker who takes Uber home late most nights and after sharing this story with her she was genuinely shaken. The part that keeps bothering me is the admission itself. He gave multiple conflicting accounts before confessing to both the sexual assault and the shooting, inside his own vehicle. That's not a case that falls apart - that's an open-and-shut criminal conviction.
But the civil picture for Uber is where it gets complicated. I've been following the broader Uber MDL through JD Supra and the core argument across thousands of these lawsuits is consistent - inadequate driver screening creating foreseeable risk to passengers.
If this driver had any prior flags that Uber's approval process missed or ignored, negligent entrustment claims become very viable alongside the criminal case. Chanti Dixon's family deserves answers on exactly what Uber knew before putting him on the platform. That question is going to matter in court.
But the civil picture for Uber is where it gets complicated. I've been following the broader Uber MDL through JD Supra and the core argument across thousands of these lawsuits is consistent - inadequate driver screening creating foreseeable risk to passengers.
If this driver had any prior flags that Uber's approval process missed or ignored, negligent entrustment claims become very viable alongside the criminal case. Chanti Dixon's family deserves answers on exactly what Uber knew before putting him on the platform. That question is going to matter in court.
