Uber Passenger’s Fatal Abandonment Fuels $40 Million Award

A retired Orange County judge issued a binding arbitration decision that requires Uber to pay some $40 million to the family and friend of a woman who was abandoned on the 73 Freeway and subsequently fatally hit by a car.

Arbitrator Hon. Richard A. Stone under Signature Resolution awarded 23-year-old Emily Normandin-Parker’s mother and father a combined $40,000,000 and $300,000 to Luna Moore who was Normandin-Parker’s co-passenger and surviving friend.

DOWNLOAD $40 MILLON UBER ARBITRATION AWARD

Uber disagrees with the determination.

“We believe the arbitrator was wrong in holding Uber legally responsible for the tragic events of that night,” Uber spokesperson Gabriela Condarco-Quesada said.

Normandin-Parker and Moore were picked up from a bar at 12:48 a.m. on a Saturday morning after a Friday night of drinking by Uber driver Vu Tran. Trouble began after Moore vomited in the back seat.

“Tran showed far more worry for his new car than he did for his passengers,” Arbitrator Stone wrote in the decision. “In a fit of anger, he needlessly placed them (and himself) in danger by illegally stopping in the gore point when he could have easily used the MacArthur Boulevard exit/offramp and stopped in a safe place instead alongside an active freeway at night.”

A gore point is the zone formed where a highway splits or merges.

In evaluating the case, Orange-based personal injury attorney Aaron Hicks of Hicks Law Firm sided with the arbitrator.

“Uber needs to train their drivers better and explain to them that when you pick up a passenger in your car, you have a duty to make sure that they get either to the final destination safely or at least to a place to drop them off safely,” Hicks told OrangeCountyLawyers.com.

Normandin-Parker’s parents’ claims against Tran and Uber included negligence, negligent training, retention, and supervision while Moore’s claims against Tran and Uber included negligence/common carrier liability and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Stone’s ruling states that Tran physically blocked Moore from following Normandin-Parker when she walked away into the dark on the 73 Freeway gore point at approximately 1:00 a.m.

“Evidence came out in arbitration that, shortly after, the driver’s GPS showed his vehicle drive right past where the decedent’s body was on the freeway,” Hicks said. “He pulled off the very next exit and then immediately contacted Uber to complain about the vomit and request a cleaning fee.”

Common carrier is a legal term used to describe a person or business that offers to transport to the public whether it be by airline, train, bus, taxi, boat or cruise ship.

RELATED CONTENT:

• Uber accident lawyer in Orange County
• Car accident attorneys
• OC Personal injury lawyer

However, Uber argued that rather than being a common carrier, the company operates a software platform connecting passengers with independent third-party drivers who perform the transport.

When Arbitrator Stone applied Proposition 51 rules, Uber became 100 percent liable for all non-economic damages alongside Tran.

Prop 22 Protection Asserted, and Defeated

Uber also asserted that it is protected from liability by Proposition 22, which voters approved in 2020, but Stone determined that Proposition 22 does not shield Uber.

“That’s a common argument with Proposition 22 that Uber is using across the board,” Hicks added. “Finally I feel like this particular arbitrator got it right and said, ‘No, you can’t use that as a defense.’”

Proposition 22 classifies app-based rideshare and delivery drivers as independent contractors rather than traditional employees.