Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft have changed the face of modern transportation. Offering greater flexibility than traditional taxis or limo companies, rideshare services are one of the ways that people choose to stay safe. Instead of drinking and driving, walking home through dangerous streets, staying in unsafe places, or riding home with an unvetted stranger, you may have turned to one of these companies to give you a safe ride to your destination.
Unfortunately, while most rideshare drivers do safely transport their passengers from place to place, some drivers take advantage of their power positions to sexually harass or even assault passengers. If you or a loved one experienced a sexual assault by one of these drivers, you need the help of a Philadelphia rideshare sexual assault lawyer. Contact Marrone Law Firm, LLC, to get the help, justice, and compensation that you deserve.
Many people wonder whether an act is a sexual assault. Victims may second-guess the interaction, look at their own behavior, and question whether the event was criminal or wrong. That has a lot to do with a society that engages in victim blaming. Female victims are told that they should be more accommodating. Male victims are told that men cannot be victims of assault. The result can leave victims confused and uncertain after an incident.
Pennsylvania law is clear about what constitutes sexual assault: it is non-consensual sexual contact that violates a person’s bodily autonomy. While sexual assault includes rape, it also includes other sexually-oriented violations of a person’s bodily autonomy, including groping, fondling, and other sexual conduct.
Sexual assault requires that the victim be non-consenting. Many people think that non-consenting means that the victim has to say “no” to the contact. However, an assailant can commit a sexual assault before a victim ever has the opportunity to say no. Victims may be incapacitated because of intoxication, age, or mental disability and unable to say no. Assailants could also use threats or force against the victim.
In the context of a rideshare assault, threat or force may be implied. The driver has the victim in their vehicle and under their control, and a rider may feel unable to tell the driver no or otherwise resist any advances safely. While state law does not criminalize rideshare drivers who make passes to their passengers, most rideshare companies have policies prohibiting that behavior. A Philadelphia rideshare sexual assault attorney might use those policies to help demonstrate a lack of consent in a sexual assault case.
Out of millions of rideshare services every day, the number of sexual assaults is unknown. Rideshare services are notorious for failing to report incidents of sexual misconduct or assault occurring during their rides.
This is not entirely on those companies. Sexual assault is a tremendously underreported crime—only about 30 percent of victims report their assault. Of those reports, police departments only investigate some of them, prosecutors prosecute even fewer, judges and juries fail to convict people, and only a percentage of people convicted of sexual assault serve time in jail or prison. One of the reasons that rideshare companies do not share reliable data on the number of sexual assaults by their drivers may be because they simply do not have that information.
However, since many rideshare companies use confidentiality agreements when settling claims with sexual assault victims, it is much more likely that these companies are taking steps to actively hide the prevalence of reported sexual assaults by their drivers. Unfortunately, it can be challenging for a Philadelphia rideshare sexual assault attorney to prove that information about other cases is relevant in a lawsuit unless they involve the same driver.
Rideshare companies do not have employee drivers. Instead, their drivers are independent contractors. This setup poses a number of benefits for the company, including reducing its liability for torts committed by the drivers. If a driver sexually assaults a passenger while on duty, the rideshare may be liable.
The odds increase if the rideshare is negligent. For example, most rideshare companies lead consumers to believe that their rides are safe. Failing to conduct criminal background checks or allowing a person to become a driver despite a history of sexually violent crimes would help establish negligence. A Philadelphia rideshare sexual assault lawyer can help you determine if the company may be liable. Schedule a consultation with a personal injury lawyer from Marrone Law Firm, LLC, to learn more.