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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.
“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. That trust cost our daughter her life,” parents Carol Normandin and Ken Parker said.
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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. They booked a rideshare on the Uber app.
Once in the vehicle, Moore vomited in Vu Tran’s car, prompting him to illegally stop at a “gore point,” which separated an exit ramp from the freeway, on State Route 73 instead of safely exiting to a safe location, the law firm said.
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Tran ordered both women out of the car and demanded a cleaning fee. Emily, who was intoxicated, was left stranded alongside multiple lanes of freeway traffic, where she was struck and killed.
Instead of calling 911, Tran left and requested that Uber charge Normandin-Parker’s account a cleaning fee. Stone found that Tran “needlessly placed” his passengers in danger and showed “far more worry for his new car than he did for his passengers.”
“No family should have to suffer the loss of a child, and our thoughts continue to be with the Normandin-Parker family,” a company statement said. “We have continued to strengthen our approach to safety over the years, through new technology, policies and safeguards informed by safety experts, including additional guidance to drivers about avoiding drop-offs in unsafe locations. Our work on safety is never finished, and we will continue looking for ways to help make the platform safer.”
Parents can watch their teen’s Uber ride through the driver’s front-facing smartphone camera when live video is enabled.
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.
