{"id":6255,"date":"2026-02-06T14:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/girardsharp.com\/?p=6255"},"modified":"2026-02-06T14:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:53:14","slug":"federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girardsharp.com\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Jury Awards $8.5 Million in First Bellwether Trial Over Sexual Assault of Uber Rider"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">A federal jury in Phoen<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">ix has awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages in the first bellwether trial in the federal multidistrict litigation arising from the sexual assault of an Uber rider. The verdict marks a significant milestone in the nationwide litigation involving thousands of similar cases consolidated in federal court.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Girard Sharp partner Sarah London served as co-lead trial counsel, working alongside the trial team and co-counsel to present the case to the jury. After a nearly four-week trial, the jury found Uber liable for the harm suffered by the plaintiff, concluding that the company bore responsibility for the conduct of its driver.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">As the first federal bellwether trial in the MDL, the case provides an important benchmark for the remaining litigation and underscores the role of coordinated trial efforts in addressing systemic safety failures affecting riders nationwide.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal jury in Phoenix has awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages in the first bellwether trial in the federal multidistrict litigation arising from the sexual assault of an Uber rider. The verdict marks a significant milestone in the nationwide litigation involving thousands of similar cases consolidated in federal court.\u00a0 Girard Sharp partner Sarah London [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jet_sm_ready_style":"","_jet_sm_style":"","_jet_sm_controls_values":"","_jet_sm_fonts_collection":"","_jet_sm_fonts_links":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"attorney-tags":[],"practice-list":[],"class_list":["post-6255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Federal Jury Awards $8.5 Million in First Bellwether Trial Over Sexual Assault of Uber Rider - Girard Sharp<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/girardsharp.com\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Jury Awards $8.5 Million in First Bellwether Trial Over Sexual Assault of Uber Rider - Girard Sharp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal jury in Phoenix has awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages in the first bellwether trial in the federal multidistrict litigation arising from the sexual assault of an Uber rider. The verdict marks a significant milestone in the nationwide litigation involving thousands of similar cases consolidated in federal court.\u00a0 Girard Sharp partner Sarah London [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/girardsharp.com\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Girard Sharp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-06T14:53:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephanie Wolf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephanie Wolf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephanie Wolf\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b23e65bdb97d56d98a085465f1fdf527\"},\"headline\":\"Federal Jury Awards $8.5 Million in First Bellwether Trial Over Sexual Assault of Uber Rider\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-06T14:53:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":152,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/girardsharp.com\\\/federal-jury-awards-8-5-million-in-first-bellwether-trial-over-sexual-assault-of-uber-rider\\\/\",\"name\":\"Federal Jury Awards $8.5 Million in First Bellwether Trial Over Sexual Assault of Uber Rider - 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