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Uber ordered to pay $1.1m to blind passenger who was denied rides 14 times

Ride share giant Uber must pay a blind passenger $1.1m following a discrimination claim that its drivers unlawfully denied her rides on 14 occasions, an arbitrator decided Thursday.

This arbitrator rebuffed the company’s position that it wasn’t liable for drivers’ behaviour given their status as contractors, according to news website Insider.

San Francisco Bay Area resident Lisa Irving, who is blind and uses a guide dog, made a claim against Uber in 2018, maintaining that “she was either denied a ride altogether or harassed by Uber drivers not wanting to transport her with her guide dog”. As a result, Irving was left stranded late at night, which made her late to work – and led to her eventual firing.

Twice, Irving claimed, drivers bullied and verbally abused her. Drivers’ discriminatory behaviour continued despite her complaining to Uber, she said.

“Of all Americans who should be liberated by the rideshare revolution, the blind and visually impaired are among those who stand to benefit the most,” one of Irving’s lawyers, Catherine Cabalo, said in a statement to Insider.

“However, the track record of major rideshare services has been spotty at best and openly discriminatory at worst,” the statement added. “The bottom line is that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a guide dog should be able to go anywhere that a blind person can go.”

Uber reportedly said it vehemently disagreed with this arbitrator’s decision.

“We are proud Uber’s technology has helped people who are blind locate and obtain rides. Drivers using the Uber app are expected to serve riders with service animals and comply with accessibility and other laws, and we regularly provide education to drivers on that responsibility. Our dedicated team looks into each complaint and takes appropriate action,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to the Guardian.

The arbitrator determined that Uber staffers who looked into discrimination allegations were trained “to coach drivers to find non-discriminatory reasons for ride denials…[and] ‘advocate’ to keep drivers on the platform despite discrimination complaints.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits transportation businesses which are governed by this law to deny transporting persons with guide dogs.

The arbitrator determined that Uber was responsible for ADA violations given its “contractual supervision over its drivers and for its failure to prevent discrimination by properly training its workers”, the news website said.

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IDFIMH

wow that is a BIG compensation for that offence

a fine and reparations were warranted but has she really been so severely disadvantaged as a result that that amount of compo needs paying ?

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

A significant part of that award is a deterrent to ensure it happens less in the future.

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IDFIMH

Can never understand some of those compo claims.

Don't know if it's news down south yet, but a couple of 'insolvency experts' were arrested and charged in connection with the Rangers FC financial stuff.

But it's been admitted that the pair were 'maliciously prosecuted', and the compo payouts are supposedly going to cost £21 million

I mean, they spent some time in jail and all that, but £21 million??

And guess who's footing the bill for all that...

And, of course, commentators are drawing comparisons with the Salmond prosecution and his claims of conspiracy etc.

One of Salmond's supporters, a former journalist called Mark Hirst, was prosecuted after he put out a video saying the Salmond complainants would 'reap a whirlwind', and he was charged with threatening and abusive behaviour.

In court the sheriff said he had 'no case to answer', and said that Hirst was only speaking in a political sense.

Now, guess what, Hirst is suing for 'malicious prosecution'.

Wonder where he got that idea from?

https://civillibertyscotland.com/

I suspect most of that has little to do with spending time inside, more the financial losses to their business interests, and of course their legal costs which would be in the millions.

I very much doubt a Scottish Judge will give them a penny they aren't entitled too.

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IDFIMH

Yes, our legal system is very much beyond reproach

And what were you saying last week about the driver who reversed into a passenger needing to be an SNP member to keep his licence?

Joking aside, yes, no doubt it's all been forensically quantified, and suchlike, but just underlines that some people's lives are much more important than other's

Often we here and read about 100s of millions being granted to folks in the USA, however they nearly always get a fraction of that.

So it would be interesting to see exactly how much of the 21 million these fellas actually get.

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IDFIMH