SAN FRANCISCO _ A Texas woman who was raped by an Uber driver in India in 2014 sued the ride-hailing company Thursday, alleging that three current and former executives violated her privacy and defamed her when they accessed and shared her medical records after the attack.
The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Northern California against Uber's chief executive, Travis Kalanick, who took a leave of absence this week; its former head of business, Emil Michael, who left the company this week; and its former vice president of business in Asia, Eric Alexander, who was fired last week after technology news site Recode reported that he had obtained the records.
Recode also reported that, despite the Uber driver's having been convicted and sentenced to life in prison, the three executives questioned whether the plaintiff had been raped and whether she had colluded with Uber competitor Ola to tarnish Uber.
"It is shocking that Travis Kalanick could publicly say that Uber would do everything to support our client and her family in her recovery when he and other executives were reviewing illegally obtained medical records and engaging in offensive and spurious conspiracy theories about the brutal rape she so tragically suffered," said Douglas H. Wigdor, the attorney representing the plaintiff.
The lawsuit accuses the three executives of intrusion into private affairs, public disclosure of private facts and defamation. It asks for a jury trial and unspecified damages.
