Uber and Lyft sexual assault lawsuits: where the cases stand in 2026

If you are considering an Uber sexual assault lawsuit in California, or looking for a Lyft sexual assault lawyer, you are not alone, and what happened is not your fault. You got into a car expecting a safe ride home. Thousands of riders who were assaulted by drivers, or by people posing as drivers, have now brought claims against the companies.

This guide explains, as of October 2026, where the rideshare cases are being heard, what juries have decided so far, what the companies' own safety reports say, the main legal fight over what duty Uber and Lyft owe riders, what to preserve from the app and your phone, and the deadlines. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation.

Where the Uber and Lyft cases are being heard

Claims against the two companies are grouped into four main proceedings, two federal and two in California state court in San Francisco:

Uber, federal	In re Uber Technologies, Inc., Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation, MDL No. 3084, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Judge Charles R. Breyer. About 5,000 cases as of October 2026, according to Bloomberg Law.
Uber, California	In re Uber Rideshare Litigation, JCCP No. 5188, San Francisco Superior Court, Judge Ethan P. Schulman (JPML filing). More than 500 cases, per Reuters reporting in April 2026.
Lyft, federal	In re Lyft, Inc. Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation, MDL No. 3171, Northern District of California, Judge Rita F. Lin, created by a February 5, 2026 transfer order.
Lyft, California	In re Lyft Rideshare Cases, JCCP No. 5061, San Francisco Superior Court, which the federal panel said had been proceeding for more than five years.

An MDL (multidistrict litigation) gathers federal cases before one judge for pretrial work; a JCCP does the same for California state cases. Each survivor still has an individual case and an individual result. Which court is better for you depends on where the assault happened, where you live and the claims involved.

What juries have decided so far

A few "bellwether" cases are tried first to test the evidence. Through early October 2026, the reported results were:

• September 30, 2025, San Francisco Superior Court (state). In the first trial, involving a 2016 assault, the jury found Uber negligent in its safety measures but found that negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff's harm, so Uber was not held liable, Insurance Journal reported.
• February 2026, Phoenix (federal MDL). A jury awarded $8.5 million to Jaylynn Dean, who chose to sue under her own name, finding Uber liable on an apparent-agency theory over a 2023 assault in Tempe, Arizona, KJZZ reported. Her lawyers had asked for far more.
• April 20, 2026, Raleigh, North Carolina (federal MDL). A jury found Uber liable and awarded $5,000. Uber said the jury was incorrectly instructed and that it has strong grounds for appeal, according to Reuters.
• October 2026, Western District of Texas (federal MDL). The third federal bellwether settled on confidential terms just before trial. Bloomberg Law reported that Judge Breyer has criticized Uber's practice of settling small groups of cases and urged it to consider a universal settlement.

These were reported results in cases handled by other firms. The outcomes ranged from no liability to $8.5 million, which shows how much depends on the facts of each case. Every case is different, and past results do not predict the outcome of any other case.

What the companies' safety reports show

Both companies have published U.S. safety reports counting the sexual assault reports they received:

• Uber's first report, released in December 2019 for 2017–2018, counted 5,981 reports in its five most serious sexual assault categories, as reported by CNN.
• Uber's second report, released in June 2022 for 2019–2020, counted 3,824 reports in those categories, including 247 reports of rape in 2019 and 141 in 2020. Uber's U.S. trips fell from 1.4 billion in 2019 to 650 million in 2020, and Uber said the rate of reports dropped 38% between the two reports.
• Uber published a third report, for 2021–2022, in August 2024, on its website.
• Lyft's first report, released in October 2021, counted 4,158 sexual assault reports from 2017 through 2019, including more than 360 reports of rape, CBS News reported.

The companies stress that these reports are a tiny share of total trips. Survivors' lawyers point to them as evidence the companies knew the risk. Both points will be argued in court.

What duty do Uber and Lyft owe riders?

This is the central legal fight. In California, a "common carrier" that transports the public must use "the utmost care and diligence" for passengers' safety (Civil Code § 2100), and that duty cannot be handed off to someone else. Plaintiffs argue Uber and Lyft are common carriers; the companies argue they are technology platforms and that drivers are independent contractors.

The courts have not settled this for California. As Advocate magazine summarized in May 2025, the federal MDL judge allowed common-carrier negligence claims to go forward and held they can support Uber's liability for its drivers, while the state JCCP judge ruled Uber cannot be vicariously liable for drivers' intentional acts as a matter of law, leaving negligence and common-carrier negligence claims pending. A California Court of Appeal decision in 2022 rejected claims over assaults by people posing as Uber drivers, but the Ninth Circuit later concluded the California Supreme Court would likely not follow that reasoning. The California Supreme Court has not decided the question. Courts in other states have applied their own law, which is why results in Arizona and North Carolina do not settle California law.

Other common claims include negligence (driver screening, monitoring and response to prior complaints), failure to warn, and misrepresentation about safety. The companies dropped mandatory arbitration for sexual assault claims by riders in 2018, the ABA Journal reported, and federal law now lets survivors of sexual assault choose court over a pre-dispute arbitration agreement.

What to preserve after a rideshare assault

Rideshare cases are built on data the companies control, but much of it also sits on your phone. Preserving it early protects your case.

1. Keep the app and your account. Do not delete the app or close the account. Take screenshots of the trip: date, time, route, driver name, photo, vehicle and plate.
2. Save the receipt email and any in-app or text messages with the driver.
3. Keep your phone and its backups. Do not reset or trade in the phone. Location history, texts to friends and call logs can corroborate the timeline.
4. Save any report you made to Uber or Lyft, and the company's replies.
5. If someone else booked the ride, ask them to keep their account and receipt too.
6. Medical and police records. If you sought care or reported to police, note the dates and report numbers. Neither is required to bring a civil case.
7. Let a lawyer send a preservation letter so the company keeps GPS data, driver records and complaint history.

Deadlines for a rideshare sexual assault claim

For an assault on an adult, Code of Civil Procedure § 340.16 generally allows ten years from the assault or three years from discovering an injury caused by it, whichever is later. For claims that are already past that deadline, two revival laws may help: AB 2777, for assaults on or after January 1, 2009, with filing allowed until December 31, 2026; and AB 250, which allows certain time-barred claims against entities alleged to have engaged in a cover-up of prior assaults by the perpetrator to be filed from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027. See ../sexual-abuse/ab-2777-adult-sexual-assault-deadline.html.

If the rider was under 18, Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1 generally allows a claim until age 40 or within five years of discovery, whichever is later; see ../sexual-abuse/childhood-sexual-abuse-statute-of-limitations-california.html. If the assault happened in another state, that state's deadline may be shorter. Some related claims may have shorter deadlines, so it is wise not to wait.

How LaCour handles rideshare cases

LaCour Trial Lawyers reviews rideshare assault claims across California, and a partner leads each case. We can file as Jane Doe or John Doe (../sexual-abuse/filing-as-jane-doe-sexual-abuse-lawsuit.html), we have Spanish-speaking lawyers, and there is no fee unless there is a recovery. Learn about our ../sexual-abuse.html practice or ask for a free, confidential review.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information about California and federal law and about public records as of its date. It is not legal advice, and reading it or contacting us does not create an attorney–client relationship. Allegations in lawsuits are claims, not findings. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.