As part of a review by former attorney general Eric Holder, a report recommended that Uber “take steps to … prohibit the use of controlled substances, including … prohibiting consumption of non-prescription controlled substances during core work hours, at work events, or at other work-sponsored events.” The report was based on an assessment of actual practices and problems — indicating that the review team found evidence of use of controlled substances during core work hours and at work events.
Passengers used Uber for drug deals
Vice reports passengers using Uber to pick up and distribute drugs. For example, in January 2015, two passengers in Los Angeles were found to be holding $2,000 of drugs and were using Uber to get to a drug transaction. Vice reports three other criminal cases involving Uber and drug dealing.
When Uber driver stole passenger’s bag, Uber falsely told police that the trip did not occur
Uber passenger Dane Wilcox reports the saga of a ride in an Uber in Boston. He told the driver he was leaving a bag in the passenger compartment as he unloaded luggage from the trunk — but then the driver drove off. When the driver didn’t return his calls or voicemails, he sought assistance from Uber and ended up filing a small claims lawsuit against Uber.
Meanwhile, in response to Wilcox’s police report, an officer tried to investigate, but Uber falsely told the investigating detective that the driver at issue had not worked for Uber for two years, and that the company had no record of the ride — both provably false. Based on these false statements which impeded the investigation, the small claims court awarded Wilcox the full $4000 he sought.
See also coverage by Ars Technica.
Litigation: driver assaulted passenger with a metal rod, yielding bleeding in brain
TMZ reported a lawsuit by a Chicago Uber passenger who says driver Munstr Abuseimi punched him repeatedly — then came back to his house with a metal rod which he used for further attacks. The passenger said he received a fractured left orbital, bleeding in his brain, concussion, and a dislocated jaw with nerve injury. Uber did not comment but said the driver no longer has access to the company’s app.
London police: Uber failed to report driver attacks
The Guardian reported a letter from the London Metropolitan Police’s taxi and private hire team, complaining that Uber failed to timely report drivers attacking passengers. “Had Uber notified police after the first offence, it would be right to assume that the second would have been prevented,” the letter explained. The letter said that Uber failed to report sexual assaults as well as an incident in which a driver “produced what was thought to be pepper spray during a road rage argument.”
Passenger died after his Uber driver punched him
Fox 32 news reports that 56-year-old Florida man Terry Lynn Kimball died after being punched by his Uber driver. The driver punched Kimball due to a dispute about the route the driver chose. A police investigation is ongoing.
Other investors ask Benchmark to sell its shares and exit Uber’s Board
In response to a Delaware lawsuit by Uber investor Benchmark Capital Partrners, other investors in Uber asked Benchmark to sell its shares and step down from Uber’s board. Full letter from the other investors. In part:
We do not feel it was either prudent or necessary from the standpoint of shareholder value, to hold the company hostage to a public relations disaster by demanding Mr. Kalanick’s resignation, along with other concessions … Accordingly, we would request that Benchmark help the Company realize its full potential by allowing the necessary work to be done in the Board Room rather than the Courtroom.
Axious summarized the situation: “It was shocking enough for a major venture capital firm to sue the CEO of a highly-valuable portfolio company. For other VC firms to then make this sort of counter-move against a peer is similarly unprecedented. It’s a brave new world in Silicon Valley.”
High driver turnover
Citing internal Uber data, news site The Information reported (paid subscription required) that only 25% of drivers who passed Uber’s screening and drove at least one ride remained with Uber a year later. Many drivers report earning approximately $10 per hour after car maintenance and gas costs.
Uber investor alleged former CEO Kalanick interfered with CEO search
In a lawsuit, Uber investor Benchmark Capital alleged that former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is interfering with Uber’s CEO search. Benchmark says “various potential candidates have withdrawn from consideration because of Kalanick’s continued participation in the search and his efforts to re-assert influence over the company.” In a letter to Uber employees, Benchmark explains the impact of Kalanick’s actions:
Travis’s failure to make good on this promise, as well as his continued involvement in the day-to-day running of the company, has created uncertainty for everyone, undermining the success of the CEO search. Indeed, it has appeared at times as if the search was being manipulated to deter candidates and create a power vacuum in which Travis could return.
Uber investor challenged “fraud” by former CEO Travis Kalanick
In a Delaware complaint, Uber investor Benchmark Capital Partrners challenged “the fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and breaches of contractual obligations perpetrated by” former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick “to entrench himself on Uber’s Board of Directors and increase his power over Uber for his own selfish ends.” The lawsuit focused in part on Kalanick’s “fraudulently obtain[ing] control” of three new seats on Uber’s boards through “his material misstatements and fraudulent concealment … of material information” that would have led Benchmark to reject the request.
Benchmark said Kalanick engaged in “gross mismanagement and other misconduct” which it summarizes as follows:
Kalanick’s personal involvement in causing Uber to acquire a self-driving vehicle start-up that, according to a confidential report not disclosed to Benchmark at the time (the “Stroz Report”), allegedly harbored trade secrets stolen from a competitor; an Uber executive’s alleged theft of the medical records of a woman who was raped by her Uber driver in India; a pervasive culture of gender discrimination and sexual harassment that ultimately prompted an investigation by the former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; and a host of other inappropriate and unethical directives issued by Kalanick.
Benchmark said Kalanick “knowingly concealed these matters from” it and other investors.
Benchmark explained its approach and its concerns in a letter to Uber employees.
In a statement, Kalanick replied: “I am disappointed and baffled by Benchmark’s hostile actions, which clearly are not in the best interests of Uber and its employees on whose behalf they claim to be acting.”
Kalanick moved to send the lawsuit to arbitration, avoiding a deposition that Recore said could have been “damaging.” On August 30, 2017, the Court agreed, ending the public litigation docket and putting all further proceedings in confidential arbitration.