Rape Victim & Uber Appear Headed Toward Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A rape victim withdrew her lawsuit against one of three Uber executives Wednesday so she can focus on settlement negotiations with Uber, its former CEO Travis Kalanick and the fired executive she accuses of stealing her medical records in India.

Represented by Jeanne Christensen with Wigdor LLP in New York, Jane Doe accused Kalanick and two others in June of defamation, invasion of privacy and other charges related to the alleged theft of her medical records.

In that lawsuit, Doe said that after she was “brutally raped” by an Uber driver in December 2014, Uber executives “violated her a second time by unlawfully obtaining and sharing her medical records” to try to discredit her rape.

Doe filed a notice Wednesday to dismiss former Uber executive Emil Michael from the case without prejudice. Michael, a former senior vice president of business who was ousted by Uber’s board of directors in June, had moved to dismiss Doe’s lawsuit on Monday.

Michael argued in his motion that Doe had failed to allege that “the medical records were improperly obtained or that Mr. Michael had anything to do with Uber’s obtaining them.”

On Tuesday, Uber attorneys asked the court to postpone an Oct. 27 case-management conference because Uber was “hopeful a settlement agreement can be reached among all parties” after a private mediation session was held in New York on Sept. 6.

In a court filing, Michael opposed delaying the conference “a second time,” asking that it “proceed as currently scheduled" along with a Dec. 1 hearing on his motion to dismiss.

By dismissing without prejudice, Doe will be able to refile a separate complaint against Michael, should she choose.

Doe’s complaint accuses co-defendant Eric Alexander, Uber’s former president of business in Asia, of traveling to New Delhi, where he obtained her medical records taken after she reported the rape to police. Alexander was fired in June after Doe filed her lawsuit.

Doe also claimed that “Alexander, Kalanick and Michael discussed the records among themselves and with other staff at Uber, speculating that plaintiff had made up the brutal rape in collusion with a rival of Uber in India in order to undermine Uber’s business.”

Doe seeks damages and a permanent injunction.

Doe's rapist, Shiv Kumar Yadav, was convicted by an Indian court and sentenced to life in prison in November 2015, according to the Indian news website Firstpost.

Doe's attorney, Christensen, and Michael's attorney Margaret Tough, with Latham & Watkins in San Francisco, did not immediately return phone calls and emails seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

Uber attorney Daniel Bookin, with O’Melveny & Myers in San Francisco, declined to comment.

Uber did not respond to an emailed request for comment Wednesday.

Follow @NicholasIovino

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