Uber ordered to pay over $1million to blind app user refused rides

Image credit: Thibault Penin (Upsplash)

Global ridehailing giant Uber was ordered to pay over $1million (£795,000) to a blind passenger who brought a claim alleging 14 different incidents of discrimination by Uber drivers.

The size of the award was supported by a number of alleged instances of discrimination faced, according to Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway (Peiffer Wolf) and The Law Office of Jana Eisinger (Eisinger). Uber’s attempt to avoid responsibility for its drivers’ discriminatory conduct was rejected by the arbitrator handling the case.

Peiffer Wolf and Eisinger represented Lisa Irving, a blind woman from the San Francisco area, filed her claim after Uber failed to remedy its drivers’ repeated refusals to provide her appropriate transportation on the grounds of her blindness and use of a guide dog.

The counsel for Irving, believe this may be the largest award ever issued to a blind passenger for repeated driver violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

The arbitrator in the case also concluded: “Uber is liable for each of these incidents under the (Department of Justice) interpretation of the ADA as well as due to Uber’s contractual supervision over its drivers and for its failure to prevent discrimination by properly training its workers.”

Peiffer Wolf attorney Adam Wolf said: “Uber offensively claimed that the Americans With Disabilities Act does not apply to it. Based on what we already have seen, dozens of cases like this will likely end up getting filed. Uber needs to do the right thing and stop discriminating against Americans with disabilities.”

Attorney Jana Eisinger said: “We believe this may be the largest award ever issued to a single blind claimant for repeated violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act and California’s Unruh Act. Because of the number of egregious instances of discrimination that Ms. Irving endured, she demonstrated her entitlement to damages well above the $4,000 minimum per incident that she is entitled to under California law.”

It is estimated that there are one million people blind in the United States; roughly 5 percent (50,000) are believed to work with guide dogs.

Catherine Cabalo, of counsel, Peiffer Wolf, said: “Of all Americans who should be liberated by the rideshare revolution, the blind and visually impaired are among those who stand to benefit the most. However, the track record of major rideshare services has been spotty at best and openly discriminatory at worst. The bottom line is that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a guide dog should be able to go anywhere that a blind person can go.”