Uber has been ordered to pay $40m (Ksh.5.18 billion shillings) to the family of a 23-year-old woman who was fatally struck by a vehicle on a California highway after an Uber driver allegedly left her and her friend by the roadside.
Emily Normandin-Parker had booked an Uber home with a friend on 12 August 2023. According to court documents, her friend became sick and vomited inside the vehicle.
Her parents said the driver, Vu Tran, pulled over on the highway and forced the two women, who were intoxicated, out of the car. Normandin-Parker was later struck and killed by another vehicle.
Uber argued that Tran was an independent contractor and that the company should not be held responsible for his actions.
“Emily did everything Uber tells riders to do – she made the responsible choice not to drive and we trusted Uber to get her home safely,” her parents said in a statement. “That trust cost our daughter her life.”
After a five-day arbitration process, Judge Richard Stone ordered Uber to pay $40m to Normandin-Parker’s parents, according to the law firm Panish, Shea, Ravipudi, which represented the family.
Arbitration is an alternative dispute-resolution process in which a qualified arbitrator makes a decision outside the traditional court system. In this case, the arbitrator was a retired judge.
Lawyers for the family said Tran did not call for emergency assistance after leaving the women on the highway. Instead, they alleged, he pulled off the road to contact Uber and request that Normandin-Parker be charged a cleaning fee.
Judge Stone said Tran showed “far more worry for his new car than he did for his passengers” and noted that he could have taken an exit and dropped the women off at a safer location.
Uber said it believed the arbitrator was wrong to find the company legally responsible for the incident.
“We have continued to strengthen our approach to safety over the years, through new technology, policies and safeguards informed by safety experts, including additional guidance to drivers about avoiding drop-offs in unsafe locations,” the company said.
The law firm representing Normandin-Parker’s family said Uber had initially offered a $10m (Ksh.1.29 billion) settlement that would have required her parents not to publicly discuss the incident. The family declined the offer.
