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Uber to Pay $40M to Parents of Woman Fatally Struck by Car
Confirmed
In Short: Retired Judge Richard Stone ordered the rideshare company to pay the money to Normandin-Parker's parents after a five-day arbitration process.
According to court documents, Normandin-Parker had booked an Uber for home with a friend on August 12, 2023, before her friend became sick and vomited in the car.
Her parents said in a statement that Emily did everything Uber told riders to do, making the responsible choice not to drive and trusting Uber to get her home safely.
Uber had argued that Tran was an independent contractor and that the company was not responsible for his actions.
However, Judge Stone rejected Uber's argument, ruling that Prop 22 does not shield Uber from liability for the actions of its drivers.
Stone also noted prior complaints against Tran for reckless driving, which Uber had not adequately addressed.
The arbitration found that Uber had received multiple reports about Tran's 'reckless behavior' from other passengers.
Uber initially proposed a settlement of $10 million, which the family declined.
The parents of Normandin-Parker said representatives for Uber had acted 'at best aloof and at worst distastefully crass' throughout the arbitration process.
What's confirmed
- "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 about their daughter, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles.
- Uber said it believed the arbitrator was wrong in holding the company legally responsible for the event.
- Uber has been ordered to pay $40 million to the parents of Emily Normandin-Parker, a 23-year-old woman who died after an Uber driver left her on a Southern California freeway.
What's still developing
- Uber has been ordered to pay $40m (£29m) to the family of a 23-year-old woman who was fatally struck on a California highway after the rideshare company's driver allegedly pulled over and ordered her out of the car.
- Her parents said the driver pulled over to the side of the highway and forced the women, who were intoxicated, out of the car, after which Normandin-Parker was hit and killed by another vehicle.
- He instead pulled off to call Uber and demand they charge Normandin-Parker a cleaning fee, the lawyers said.
- Uber has been ordered to pay $40 million in the 2023 death of a Southern California woman who was struck and killed by a vehicle after her rideshare driver kicked her out on the side of a freeway.
- Retired Judge Richard Stone, an arbitrator, rejected Uber's argument that it "merely operates a technology platform" and that it was shielded from "vicarious liability for the negligence of its drivers," according to Panish Shea Ravipudi, the law firm representing the family of 23-year-old Emily Normandin-Parker.
- Normandin-Parker, a 2020 UCLA graduate, was out with her friends in Costa Mesa when she called an Uber to take her to her Laguna Beach home with her friend, Luna Moore.
- Instead of calling 911, Tran left and requested that Uber charge Normandin-Parker's account a cleaning fee.
- Prior to the deadly incident, Tran had completed 6,000 trips with a 4.96 rating, without a single incident involving unsafe drop-offs, freeway stops or rider injury, Uber said.
- Stone found Uber and the driver, Vu Tran, jointly liable for the incident, awarding $20 million each to Emily's parents, Carol Normandin and Ken Parker.
- The tragic event occurred in 2023 when Emily and her friend, Luna Moore, were taking an Uber home after a night out.
- Uber argued it was merely a technology platform, not responsible for driver conduct.
- Emily, intoxicated, entered the freeway and was fatally struck by a vehicle.