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My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

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Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#121

Post by Chronos »

notheguyouthink wrote: post #88
gravypod wrote: post #76

"I just didn’t buy that a company could just get away with that business model. Hire anyone with a car, facilitate everything, and have no responsibility for what happens in the cars." If I got food sick from something I ordered off GrubHub could I sue them?

I'm curious how far this line goes, too. If I go to Subway and a worker stabs me, does Subway owe me millions? I'm really confused how Uber is responsible here.. it just seems, odd, to me. Now, if Uber as a company promoted (in one way or another) reckless speeding for the sake of fast drop-offs, and I get hit by an Uber driver, yes I think Uber is at fault (and the driver) . However, why does it sound like Uber is r…

If Subway tells the cops "I won't say who it was", and they say "he hasn't worked at Subway for two years anyway" (this being a bald-faced lie), AND the medical bills from the stabbing set you back millions of dollars... damn right, Subway owes you millions. They're making themselves complicit in the crime by obstructing justice, and making it clear that Subway was OK with the stabbing.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#122

Post by jandrese »

skinnymuch wrote: post #102
samstave wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was looking for my ride history from Uber a while back, as I have been a rider since pretty close to their inception date in SF. I sent an email to support asking for my full ride history, and I asked what was the date which I created my account as I wanted to know how close to the birth of Uber I signed up... I was told that I couldn't have any of that info as it was a violation of privacy. I found this bizarre as…

> I was told that I couldn't have any of that info as it was a violation of privacy. I found this bizarre as it was my account info I was seeking. Does seem bizarre. Do other companies provide this information? I can't imagine Amazon or Facebook not telling you. But I've never tried. Facebook and Google have their data take our services (I know neither provide everything especially FB), but maybe that includes the in…

There is a tab in your Amazon account that lists every single thing you've bought from them on that account. I have purchases going back to 1998 in there.

Uber is maybe in a little different position because they're in danger of outing a cheating spouse if they give up that info. Maybe a better option would be to let you access all of your trip info, but have an option to hide certain trips? Sort of like private browsing mode in your browser?

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#123

Post by foobarbazetc »

rodgerd wrote: post #68
devoply wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what recourse you have with a real taxi. I am sure the company contracting a taxi driver would consider firing a driver that steals your stuff. Especially after a few complaints. The main problem seems to be Uber's unresponsiveness to the whole issue. It would not be hard for them to set up some sort of system to prevent fraud and theft and to punish drivers accused of that sort of thing, and to kick them ou…

I left a DSLR in a taxi in Ballarat. I live in New Zealand. They couriered to me for free. (I sent the driver a box of wine to say thanks).

Yeah but that's Australia... ;)

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#124

Post by ivraatiems »

skinnymuch wrote: post #116
ivraatiems wrote: post #82

I'm glad this worked out for the OP. However, I think he may have made a couple mistakes that could have been avoided for a smoother process. The big one is not retaining an attorney. No, he doesn't have to for small claims court, but Uber clearly had its legal team looking at this. Now, I understand that lawyers are expensive and carry their own issues - but if he'd won the case with an attorney, he could potentiall…

The guy only got $4K. Retaining a lawyer for just that amount wouldn't be worth it, would it? I have no clue how small claims works and how likely it is to have attorney fees be included if you win like you mentioned. The guy had to fly back to Boston again for the second time around. He'd also likely have spent some money in Boston like getting around. None of that was included in the final amount either. I'm not su…

> The guy only got $4K. Retaining a lawyer for just that amount wouldn't be worth it, would it? I have no clue how small claims works and how likely it is to have attorney fees be included if you win like you mentioned. The guy had to fly back to Boston again for the second time around. He'd also likely have spent some money in Boston like getting around. None of that was included in the final amount either. I'm not sure if a lawyer or someone more in the know how of how small claims/courts work would have been able to get it. And even if you can, how easy is it to get it.

It can be worth it, especially if - as OP mentioned - part of his goal was to prove his case to Uber, not so much to specifically recover the money. He didn't necessarily need an incredible A++ 10/10 lawyer, just somebody decent who could devote a couple hours to advising him and act as a go-between for settlement negotiations.

Having a lawyer levels you up in the eyes of court systems and corporations both. Is it perfectly worth it? Not necessarily. Is it very good advice for people considering any kind of legal action? I think so.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#125

Post by wutbrodo »

BoorishBears wrote: post #3
skinnymuch wrote: post #2

Wow what a crazy story. The twist half way through after the first court case was cool. Trying not to spoil anything for someone who hasn't read or finished reading the article. But first it sucks how much time was spent by everyone in the story especially the victim. It also sucks that if you have to go to court again because something comes up that shows the defense, Uber, in this case, did something clearly wrong…

... my bi-monthly reminder not to say anything tounge-in-cheek on HN, lest people trip overthemselves to remind you how you said something tounge-in-cheek and downvote you

> ... my bi-monthly reminder not to say anything tounge-in-cheek on HN, lest people trip overthemselves to remind you how you said something tounge-in-cheek and downvote you

just avoid the hassle and use "/s"

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#126

Post by indiandennis »

gravypod wrote: post #76

"I just didn’t buy that a company could just get away with that business model. Hire anyone with a car, facilitate everything, and have no responsibility for what happens in the cars." If I got food sick from something I ordered off GrubHub could I sue them?

Butwith GrubHub, you know where the food came from and can take action against the restaurant. In this case, the rider had no way to contact or hold responsible the driver, and that in addition to Uber obstructing law enforcement efforts to locate the driver is what made them liable.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#127

Post by ivraatiems »

balls187 wrote: post #118
ivraatiems wrote: post #82

I'm glad this worked out for the OP. However, I think he may have made a couple mistakes that could have been avoided for a smoother process. The big one is not retaining an attorney. No, he doesn't have to for small claims court, but Uber clearly had its legal team looking at this. Now, I understand that lawyers are expensive and carry their own issues - but if he'd won the case with an attorney, he could potentiall…

How would retaining an attorney work in small claims?

IIRC it's the same as doing it anywhere else. You retain someone to represent you and they do so. In some states, you must appear on your own - but not in MA, I don't think, and you can still have an attorney advising you even if they can't appear with you.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#128

Post by jszymborski »

jmcdiesel wrote: post #91
VA3FXP wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually because I use NoScript, nothing at all shows up when I visit that URL. Empty white page. Defective site design.

"I block HTML and your site doesnt load for me, defective site!" I know JS isnt HTML, but at this point, it basically is. Complaining that a site is broken because you choose to break it is just astounding.

> but at this point, it basically is.

Normally, I find belly-aching about something not looking right or not working right because NoScript is on is silly.

But I find it astounding that this page requires javascript to display the text of a _blog post_. What is so important that your site completely shits the bed and fails so badly that it shows nothing but a white screen.

Frankly, I think Shopify just purposely sabotages the page because they want you to enable javascript so they can enable analytics and track you across their sites.

Not to mention they load code from Google APIs, Google Analytic, Shopify.com, Embed.ly, Gfycat.com, and Mlveda.com, which means I'm suddenly running code from websites I never intended on visiting. Why should visiting https://fymhotsauce.rocks send a road flare to all those services?

You're right, this is the new normal, but it's shit and we should be complaining.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#129

Post by vkou »

skinnymuch wrote: post #92
hsod wrote: post #25

Interesting story, but I think it was a bit unfair to Uber. I'm glad this guy was made whole, but I'm not sure Uber's reluctance to paying you 4000 dollars because a driver stole your backpack qualifies as corruption. From what I can tell, the worst thing Uber did was not be sufficiently cooperative with the police investigation. This part of the narrative is extremely muddled and unclear, so it's hard to take a stro…

I'm all for being cynical and weary of mob hating. However, the article shows many times Uber is not trying to do anything. The driver seemingly didn't get reprimanded or properly investigated by Uber. We don't know this for sure, but based on what went down, this seems to be the case. Uber lied to the police. Uber tried to turn it around against the victim for having so much evidence. When the victim was incredibly…

> The driver seemingly didn't get reprimanded or properly investigated by Uber.

Sure he did. He got a 1-star rating - surely this will weed out the bad agents from the system.

Re: My Uber driver robbed me, so I took Uber to court and won

#130

Post by lazyant »

ivraatiems wrote: post #82

I'm glad this worked out for the OP. However, I think he may have made a couple mistakes that could have been avoided for a smoother process. The big one is not retaining an attorney. No, he doesn't have to for small claims court, but Uber clearly had its legal team looking at this. Now, I understand that lawyers are expensive and carry their own issues - but if he'd won the case with an attorney, he could potentiall…

I called several attorney offices for a small claim court case (max $2k in that particular state iirc) and they laughed at me.
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