Uber, Texas Woman Raped in India to Settle Lawsuit

Uber Technologies Inc and a woman from Texas, who accused the company executives of accessing her medical files after she sued the firm when a cab driver in India raped her in 2014, have agreed to reach a settlement for an unknown amount, according to a U.S. federal court filing on Dec. 8.

The Indian woman had filed a civil case against the company, its former CEO Travis Kalanick and former executives Eric Alexander and Emil Michael. Alexander had accessed the files from the police in India and shown it to Michael and Kalanick. She sued for intrusion into private affairs, public disclosure of private facts, and defamation.

The Uber driver was convicted in 2015 to life imprisonment. The woman had filed two civil lawsuits against Uber, one of which was settled in 2015. She sued the lawsuit again after finding out that an Uber executive “met with Delhi police and intentionally obtained plaintiff’s confidential medical records.” The company also kept a copy of the records.

Kalanick, whose 8-year reign was fraught with scandals, did not believe the woman who had said that she was raped by the Uber driver in India. They doubted that rival company in India, Ola, had orchestrated the matter, a source told Reuters.

“Rape denial is just another form of the toxic gender discrimination that is endemic at Uber and ingrained in its culture,” said Douglas Wigdor, the lawyer representing the victim, who filed the suit in Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, according to a New York Times report in June 2017, when the second civil lawsuit was filed.

Since then Alexander was fired, Michael resigned and Kalanick was pushed out by the board of directors. The settlement took place since current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wants to move on from the scandals and take the company towards a more positive future.

“Uber executives duplicitously and publicly decried the rape, expressing sympathy for plaintiff, and shock and regret at the violent attack, while privately speculating, as outlandish as it is, that she had colluded with a rival company to harm Uber’s business,” the lawsuit said.