Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits Is Leering and Traumatic

Emily Steel, New York Times (gift link): More than 4,000 lawsuits have been filed, so many that thousands were combined to streamline procedural matters. Most remain in the early stages. The New York Times reviewed documents from the three cases that reached trial and about a dozen others that have advanced to the stage when the parties start exchanging documents and conducting depositions. The litigation has revealed a clear pattern: Uber’s lawyers scour women’s private communications, medical records, therapy notes and other sources for sensitive details, including other sexual assaults, childhood abuse and domestic violence. They grill the women about those issues, their sex lives and their behavior on the night of the incident. If Uber’s defence counsel wants to look at any history, it should be that of the company they represent. There is a brief exploration in this article about why victims and their family members, therapists, and friends are deposed in these cases. In short,…