RIDEGURU
Classic Uber moment.
(CNN)Uber has been ordered to pay $1.1 million after an arbitrator ruled that the rideshare company's drivers discriminated against a blind woman and her guide dog on more than a dozen separate occasions.
Lisa Irving, a California resident, said she was denied rides or verbally abused by drivers 14 times in 2016 and 2018, Irving's attorney Adam Wolf told CNN.
"I felt demeaned, humiliated, devalued, embarrassed, angered, frustrated and violated," Irving said in a video statement.
She was awarded $324,000 in damages and more than $800,000 in attorney fees and court costs, according to the arbitrator's award posted online by her attorneys.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/02/business/uber-blind-passenger-arbitration-trnd/index.html
Comments
I would say I find it hard to believe Drivers would do that... and still be able to drive... but I can believe some would... and that they somehow manage to keep driving. What I cannot believe is that her court costs and lawyer fees were 800K and she only got 324K. THAT is a crime. It used to be that anything over 23% for the lawyers was unethical. Over 70% of the settlement never made it to her. Is this what arbitration is about? Uber should only be responsible if they knew about it and did not fire the riders... or was she a horrible rider. Let's see some of that cam footage... (Kidding)
Dogs lead to negative ratings from next customers. Drivers cannot afford that. Hell, we can get banned for that. but this poor woman.
It comes down to Uber not being proactive to fix the problem. They should either:
Yeah, yeah, I know it's supposed to be a law that every driver pick them up, but that isn't the reality. Just keep it open and honest. Obviously, the system favors the drivers' independent contractor status and they will make their choices.
Oh, at first I thought drivers just didn't want anything to do with the blind woman, since they'd have to help and she could be a potential liability. It's probably the dog, huh, that could lead to negative reviews from subsequent customers.
That's sad that they probably drove up to the woman just to see the dog and THEN they'd cancel. Imagine being the woman and going through that so many times. I can see why she would be so mad.
But why? Did she have a dog and they didn’t want a dog in their car? People suck.