Uber Ordered to Pay $40M in Death of Woman Ejected on Freeway
An arbitrator found Uber vicariously liable for a driver who left a 23-year-old woman on a California freeway, where she was killed.
Uber has been ordered to pay $40 million to the parents of Emily Normandin-Parker, a 23-year-old woman killed after a driver dropped her and a friend on the side of a California freeway, according to newly unsealed arbitration documents.
Retired California judge Richard A. Stone, serving as arbitrator, concluded that Uber was "vicariously liable" for the negligence of its driver. The ruling holds the ride-share giant financially responsible for the actions of the driver, whose decision to eject his passengers in a hazardous location led directly to Normandin-Parker's death.
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The case centers on a core legal question that has long shadowed gig-economy companies: whether drivers classified as independent contractors can still expose platforms to liability for harmful conduct carried out during the course of a ride. The arbitrator's finding of vicarious liability represents a significant legal setback for Uber's longstanding argument that it bears limited responsibility for driver behavior.
The $40 million award, reached through private arbitration rather than a public trial, was disclosed only after the documents became available. Uber has faced mounting scrutiny over passenger safety in recent years, and rulings of this magnitude could increase pressure on the company to tighten oversight of drivers operating on its platform.
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