Published
August 7, 2026
Updated
August 7, 2026
This page covers the Uber passenger sexual assault litigation only — the federal MDL in California, the separate California state-court proceeding, and the three trials decided so far. If an Uber driver assaulted or harassed you, here is what the court record actually shows and why there is still no claim form to fill out.
Attorney Advertising · Not Legal Advice
Pending Litigation · No Settlement Yet
This article describes pending lawsuits against Uber Technologies, Inc. The allegations in most of these cases remain unproven, and Uber disputes liability. Three trials have been decided, and those verdicts may be challenged or appealed; none of them decides any other case. There is no settlement fund and no settlement claim form. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
Time-Sensitive — Don't Wait to Get Advice
Legal deadlines (statutes of limitations) apply to these claims, they vary by state, and once a deadline passes a claim can be barred permanently. This page is an attorney advertisement and a free informational resource — not a law firm. Submitting the form does not create an attorney-client relationship, file anything, or stop any deadline, and it does not guarantee that an attorney will review or respond to your case. Do not wait for a callback. If you are considering a claim, speak with a qualified attorney directly as soon as possible. You are free to choose any attorney you wish — you are never required to use this site or any attorney it connects you with, and OpenClassActions.com does not recommend or endorse any particular lawyer.
Latest Update
August 2026 Update: The federal Uber docket kept growing over the summer. The JPML statistics report dated August 3, 2026 lists 4,397 actions pending in MDL No. 3084, up from 3,571 on June 1 — roughly 800 new federal filings in nine weeks, making it one of the fastest-growing large dockets in the country over that stretch. Two federal bellwether trials have now been tried to verdict, with a third reported to be set for October 2026 after an earlier September date moved. Judge Breyer entered a schedule in July 2026 for a further bellwether. No global settlement has been announced, and there is no claim form.
Status
Potential Cases Under Review
Individual legal claims · no settlement claim form announced
Pending Federal Actions
4,397 in MDL No. 3084
JPML count as of August 3, 2026 · 4,693 total filed to date · California state cases are counted separately
Trials Decided
3 — outcomes ranged from a defense verdict to $8.5 million
Sept. 2025 (state, no damages) · Feb. 2026 ($8.5M) · Apr. 2026 ($5,000). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Next Trial
Third federal bellwether — reported for October 2026
Reported by legal trade press · trial schedules routinely move, so do not rely on this page for court dates
Can I Claim?
No — there is nothing to claim from a settlement fund
Survivors may request a free, confidential legal review instead
Deadlines
Time limits apply — and vary by state
Missing a statute of limitations can permanently bar a claim — don't wait to speak with an attorney
Request a Free Case Review
Two Tracks: Federal MDL 3084 and California JCCP 5188
The single most confusing thing about the Uber litigation is that it is not one case. It is two large coordinated proceedings running in parallel, in two different court systems, on two different schedules — plus individual cases filed in other state courts.The federal track. MDL No. 3084, In re: Uber Technologies, Inc., Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California before Judge Charles R. Breyer. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created it in 2023 to coordinate pretrial proceedings in federal passenger sexual assault cases filed against Uber across the country. The JPML's statistics report dated August 3, 2026 lists 4,397 actions pending and 4,693 total actions filed to date. An MDL is not a class action: each case keeps its own identity and is resolved on its own facts, but discovery, expert work, and key legal rulings are handled once for the whole group.
The California state track. In re Uber Rideshare Cases, JCCP No. 5188 (case number CJC-21-005188), is a California Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding in San Francisco County Superior Court before Judge Ethan P. Schulman. It coordinates California state-court cases and predates the federal MDL. A JCCP is the California state analogue to a federal MDL — if you want the mechanics, see our explainer on what a JCCP is.
Why this matters to a reader: the two tracks have produced different rulings and, so far, different trial outcomes. A headline about "the Uber verdict" may be describing either one. Which track a given case belongs in depends on the facts and on where it was filed, and that is a question for an attorney rather than something a reader can determine from a news story.
Every Uber Trial Decided So Far
Three Uber passenger sexual assault cases have reached a jury verdict. They came out very differently, which is the clearest evidence available that these cases are decided individually.- September 30, 2025 · California state court (JCCP 5188) Verdict for Uber — no damages awarded The first Uber passenger sexual assault case anywhere to reach a jury verdict, tried over about three weeks in San Francisco County Superior Court. The claim arose from a 2016 ride. The jury found that Uber was negligent, but also found that Uber's negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff's harm — a finding that meant no damages were awarded against the company.
- February 5, 2026 · First federal bellwether (MDL 3084) $8.5 million in compensatory damages A jury found Uber liable over a driver's assault of a 19-year-old passenger picked up late at night in Tempe, Arizona in November 2023. Evidence at trial included Uber's own internal safety scoring, which had flagged the ride as high risk. The jury also found that the driver was acting as Uber's apparent agent, which allowed Uber to be held responsible for his conduct notwithstanding its classification of drivers as independent contractors. Plaintiff's counsel asked for $144 million; the jury returned $8.5 million.
- April 2026 · Second federal bellwether (MDL 3084) Uber liable — $5,000 awarded A federal jury in Charlotte, North Carolina found Uber liable after a short trial over a 2019 ride in which the driver was alleged to have groped the passenger. The jury awarded $5,000. Before trial, Judge Breyer had ruled that Uber qualifies as a common carrier under North Carolina law, which carries a heightened duty of care toward passengers.
The spread here is the point. The same allegations, tried by three different juries, produced a defense verdict, an eight-figure award, and an award of $5,000. Case value turns on the facts, the evidence, the injuries, the applicable state law, and what a particular jury believes. No verdict in someone else's case establishes what any other case is worth, and Uber may challenge or appeal trial results.
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The Common Carrier Rulings and Why They Matter
A common carrier is a business that transports members of the public for hire — a taxi, a bus, a train. Common carriers have historically owed their passengers a heightened duty of care, higher than the ordinary duty one person owes another. Uber has long argued that it is a technology platform rather than a transportation company, and that its drivers are independent contractors.Courts on both Uber tracks have rejected that framing on the specific question of common carrier status. In the California state proceeding, the coordination judge found that Uber can be treated as a common carrier, comparing the service to a passenger train or taxi. In the federal MDL, Judge Breyer ruled ahead of the North Carolina bellwether that Uber qualifies as a common carrier under that state's law.
What that does and does not mean is worth stating plainly. It raises the standard of care Uber is measured against, which makes a negligence claim easier to frame. It does not make Uber automatically liable: the September 2025 state verdict shows a jury can find negligence and still decline to award damages if it concludes the negligence did not cause the harm. The analysis also runs state by state, so a ruling under North Carolina or California law does not automatically carry to another state.
The California state proceeding has also narrowed the theories available. The coordination judge concluded that Uber could not be held vicariously liable for a driver's intentional acts and sustained challenges to claims for misrepresentation, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and strict products liability, while allowing negligence, negligent misfeasance and nonfeasance, and common-carrier negligence claims to proceed.
What the Uber Lawsuits Allege
The complaints allege that Uber knew for years that drivers were sexually assaulting passengers and did not do enough to prevent it. The specific allegations vary by case, but the recurring themes are that Uber allegedly:• Used driver background screening that did not catch dangerous applicants
• Failed to act on passenger complaints about individual drivers, including repeat complaints
• Marketed itself as a safe way to get home, particularly for people who had been drinking, while knowing the reported assault numbers
• Declined to adopt safety measures such as in-car cameras or stronger ride-verification tools
• Treated drivers as independent contractors in a way that, plaintiffs say, let it disclaim responsibility for their conduct
Uber disputes these allegations and has not been found liable across the litigation. On the numbers Uber itself publishes: its U.S. Safety Reports disclosed 5,981 reports of sexual assault for 2017–2018 and 3,824 for 2019–2020, roughly 9,805 across the four years covered. Those are Uber's own reported figures, not a court finding.
Who May Want to Request a Legal Review?
You may want to request a legal review if any of the following happened during an Uber ride, pickup, or dropoff:• You were sexually assaulted or raped by an Uber driver
• A driver groped you, touched you inappropriately, or made unwanted physical contact
• A driver kissed you without your consent
• A driver exposed themselves to you
• A driver made sexual comments, threats, or advances
• A driver locked you in, physically restrained you, took you off route, or refused to end the ride
• A driver ended the trip early in the app and then assaulted you
• You were a minor at the time of the incident
Every case depends on the facts, the state where it happened, and any applicable deadline.
You do NOT need:
• A police report — many people never reported to police
• Physical evidence — your account of what happened matters
• Money upfront — the attorneys handling these cases typically work on contingency
Uber Records That May Help
None of this is required to request a review, but Uber generates an unusually detailed paper trail, and these records may help:• Your Uber trip history in the app, which records the driver, the vehicle, the route actually driven, and the exact start and end times of the ride
• The emailed ride receipt for that trip
• Any report you submitted through Uber's in-app help or safety reporting flow, and Uber's reply
• Screenshots and texts you sent to friends or family about what happened, especially anything sent that night
• Reports you made to police, a school, a workplace, a doctor, a therapist, or an advocate
• Medical or therapy records
• Photos, videos, phone location data, or witness names
A trip that was ended early in the app, or a route that does not match where you actually went, can be significant — that pattern was part of the evidence in the February 2026 trial. Do not delete Uber receipts, app records, screenshots, texts, emails, or medical documents if you are considering legal action.
What Compensation Could Cover
Every case is different. What compensation could cover depends on what happened to you, the evidence you have, how it affected your life, and the law of your state:• Medical bills — emergency room visits, doctor's appointments, medications
• Therapy and counseling — past sessions and future treatment
• Lost income — wages you missed because of what happened
• Emotional distress and pain and suffering
• Other damages depending on state law
There is no average and no guaranteed amount. The three decided verdicts — no damages, $8.5 million, and $5,000 — are the honest answer to "what are these cases worth," and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on the case. Anyone quoting you a range for an Uber claim is estimating, not reporting.
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Is There an Uber Settlement or Claim Form?
No. No global Uber settlement has been announced, there is no settlement fund, and there is no claim form to submit. If you find a site offering you an "Uber settlement claim form," treat it with suspicion.These are individual personal-injury claims. An MDL coordinates them for efficiency, but each case is still evaluated on its own facts, evidence, injuries, and applicable state law, and each is resolved individually — by trial, by an individual settlement, or by dismissal. That is a different animal from the class action settlements this site usually covers, where everyone in a defined class files the same form for the same type of payment. For the difference between the two, and how the Uber and Lyft proceedings compare side by side, see our rideshare sexual assault litigation overview.
What Happens Next in the Uber Litigation
Bellwether trials are the mechanism that moves an MDL. A handful of representative cases are tried, both sides learn how juries react to the shared evidence, and that information shapes whether and on what terms the rest of the inventory resolves. Two federal bellwethers have now been tried.Legal trade press has reported that the third federal bellwether is set for October 5, 2026, after an earlier September date was moved, with jury selection at the end of September, and that Judge Breyer entered a schedule in July 2026 governing a further bellwether. Reported dates have varied between sources and trial schedules routinely move, so this page should not be relied on for court scheduling or for any legal deadline.
Separately, the California state proceeding continues on its own calendar in San Francisco. Any broader resolution would depend on trial results across both tracks, the number and strength of the claims, state law, and negotiations between the parties. Nothing about a future settlement is guaranteed, and no date for one has been announced.
How Does This Work? (3 Simple Steps)
• Step 1: Fill out a short form. Click here — you can start a confidential review in about 30 seconds.
• Step 2: Your information may be reviewed. Your information may be reviewed by a legal representative or participating attorney, at no cost and with no obligation.
• Step 3: If an attorney accepts your case, they handle the legal process. Attorneys handling these cases typically work on contingency, meaning fees come out of any recovery rather than your pocket. You are free to choose any attorney you wish, and you are never required to hire anyone this site connects you with.
Important: A review is not guaranteed, and submitting the form does not stop any legal deadline. If you do not hear back promptly, do not wait — contact a qualified attorney of your choosing directly, because time limits may be running.
Common Questions
How many Uber sexual assault lawsuits are pending?
The JPML's statistics report dated August 3, 2026 lists 4,397 actions pending in MDL No. 3084, out of 4,693 total actions filed to date, up from 3,571 pending on June 1, 2026. Hundreds of additional Uber cases are coordinated separately in California state court under JCCP No. 5188, and other state-court cases may exist. MDL counts change month to month.
Has Uber ever been found liable at trial?
Yes, in two of the three trials decided so far. In February 2026 a federal jury in the first MDL bellwether awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages. In April 2026 a federal jury in North Carolina found Uber liable in the second bellwether but awarded $5,000. In the earlier California state trial decided September 30, 2025, the jury found Uber negligent but concluded that its negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff's harm, so Uber was not held liable for damages. Verdicts may be challenged or appealed, and none of them decides any other case.
What is the difference between MDL 3084 and JCCP 5188?
MDL No. 3084 is the federal multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of California before Judge Charles R. Breyer. JCCP No. 5188, In re Uber Rideshare Cases, is a separate California state-court coordinated proceeding in San Francisco County Superior Court before Judge Ethan P. Schulman. Similar allegations, two different court systems, two different schedules. Which track a case belongs in depends on the facts and on where it was filed.
What does it mean that a court found Uber is a common carrier?
A common carrier transports the public for hire and generally owes passengers a heightened duty of care. Courts in both Uber proceedings have ruled that Uber can be treated as a common carrier under the state law applied in those cases. That raises the standard Uber is measured against; it does not make Uber automatically liable, and the analysis can differ from state to state.
When is the next Uber trial?
Legal trade press has reported that the third federal bellwether is set for October 5, 2026, after an earlier September date was moved, and that a schedule was entered in July 2026 for a further bellwether. Trial schedules routinely change, so do not rely on this page for court dates.
Do I need a police report?
No. A police report can help, but it is not required, and many of the people currently suing never filed one. Uber trip history, ride receipts, in-app reports, contemporaneous messages, and medical or therapy records may all be useful instead.
What if my Uber ride was years ago?
You may still be able to pursue a claim. Every state sets its own time limit, and that limit can depend on the date of the incident and the survivor's age at the time. Only a qualified attorney can tell you whether you are still within the window that applies to you.
What if I was assaulted by a Lyft driver instead?
That is a separate litigation with its own federal MDL — MDL No. 3171 — before a different judge and on a different schedule. This page covers Uber only. See our Lyft sexual assault lawsuit page for that track.
Will my name be public?
In many cases, survivors can proceed under a pseudonym to protect their privacy. An attorney can explain how this works in your situation.
Does submitting this form stop the statute of limitations?
No. Submitting a form on this page does not file a lawsuit, preserve a claim, toll a statute of limitations, or extend any deadline, and it does not guarantee that an attorney will review or respond to your case. Only a qualified attorney can advise you about deadlines that may apply to you.
Do I have to use the attorneys from this page?
No. You can hire any attorney you choose. You are never required to use this site or any attorney it connects you with. OpenClassActions.com is an attorney-advertising and informational resource, not a law firm, and it does not recommend or endorse any particular lawyer. Because deadlines may be running, contacting a qualified attorney promptly is a good idea.
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Important Legal Notice
IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE: OpenClassActions.com is an attorney-advertising and informational resource — it is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and does not recommend or endorse any particular lawyer or law firm. It may be compensated when you connect with a participating attorney. Submitting information through this page does not create an attorney-client relationship, does not mean any attorney has agreed to represent you, does not file a lawsuit for you, and does not stop, pause, or extend any legal deadline. Time limits may apply to Uber, rideshare sexual assault, sexual abuse, and personal injury claims. These deadlines can vary by state and may depend on the date of the incident, the survivor's age at the time, and other facts. You are free to choose any attorney you wish and are never required to use anyone this site connects you with. If you do not receive a response from an attorney, or if you believe any deadline may be approaching, do not wait. You should contact a qualified attorney of your choosing directly as soon as possible to protect your rights.
Sources
• JPML — Pending MDLs statistics reports (August 3, 2026)• U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. — Uber Passenger Sexual Assault MDL No. 3084
• California Courts — Civil Case Coordination (JCCP proceedings, incl. No. 5188)
• Bloomberg Law — Uber Defeats Passenger Sexual Assault Case in First Trial (Sept./Oct. 2025)
• Reuters — Uber Ordered to Pay $8.5 Million (Feb. 2026)
• Reuters — Uber Loses Another Driver Sex Assault Trial, Ordered to Pay $5,000 (Apr. 2026)
• AP — Uber North Carolina Verdict (Apr. 2026)
• HarrisMartin — Third Uber Bellwether Trial Set for October
• Uber — U.S. Safety Reports
• RAINN — Sexual Violence Statistics
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Status
MDL and JCCP pending — no settlement
Federal Case
In re: Uber Technologies, Inc., Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation
Federal MDL
MDL No. 3084 — Judge Charles R. Breyer
Federal Court
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
California Case
In re Uber Rideshare Cases — JCCP No. 5188 (CJC-21-005188)
California Court
San Francisco County Superior Court — Judge Ethan P. Schulman
Pending Federal Actions
4,397 (JPML report dated August 3, 2026)
Official Website
N.D. Cal. Uber MDL Page
