At 2 A.M., U.S. House Committee Advances Federal Uber Immunity Amendment That Would Retroactively Erase Thousands of Sexual Assault Cases

Contact: alex@nejconsult.com

Amendment from Rep. Fong of California preempts state common carrier and vicarious liability laws — gutting a central provision of California’s qualified November ballot measure on rideshare safety and accountability

SACRAMENTO — At approximately 2:00 a.m. this morning, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced an amendment offered by Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) that would hand Uber and other app-based companies sweeping federal immunity from state-law claims brought by passengers, drivers, and other people harmed in incidents involving app-based drivers.

The Fong amendment would expressly preempt state common carrier, non-delegable duty, and agency liability doctrines. Under the amendment, Uber and similar companies cannot be held liable for harm caused by drivers using their platforms unless the company itself was “grossly negligent” or committed “criminal wrongdoing” — bars far higher than the ordinary negligence standards that have governed every other industry for more than a century.

Most alarming, the amendment is retroactive. By its plain terms, it applies to any action commenced on or after the date of enactment “without regard to whether the harm that is the subject of the action, or the conduct that caused the harm, occurred before such date of enactment.” That would erase, mid-litigation, much of the legal basis for the more than 3,000 sexual assault cases currently pending against Uber in federal multidistrict litigation — cases brought by people assaulted, who are already in court.

The amendment lands after a second federal jury found Uber liable for sexual assault by one of its drivers and weeks after the Alliance Against Corporate Abuse’s sexual assault prevention measure qualified for California’s November 2026 ballot. It comes as Uber is also bankrolling it’s own initiative that would cap medical recoveries and effectively block injured Californians from finding legal representation.

“Uber couldn’t kill California’s accountability initiative at the ballot, so a California congressman is trying to do it in Washington — at 2 a.m. The Fong amendment would retroactively eliminate thousands of pending sexual assault cases against Uber and strip every state of the power to hold rideshare companies accountable when their drivers harm passengers,” said AACA spokesperson Alex Stack. “Fong is asking Congress to put Uber above the law — and to take the courthouse keys away from assault survivors who have already filed their cases. Californians deserve better from their representatives. We will make sure every voter in this state knows where their congressman stood at 2 a.m. this morning — and which company he stood with.”

The Alliance Against Corporate Abuse’s qualified November ballot initiative — the Sexual Assault Against Rideshare Passengers and Drivers Prevention and Accountability Act — would establish:

• Fingerprint background checks for all rideshare drivers in California
• Monthly public reporting of safety data and incidents
• Common carrier liability for rideshare companies, regardless of driver contractor status

Every 8 minutes, on average, Uber received a report of sexual assault or misconduct between 2017 and 2022, according to internal data first reported by The New York Times.