Yet another Hacker News

Uber arbitration award over Emily Normandin-Parker's death

63 points dataflow 1 hour ago 23 comments

enahs-sf 47 minutes ago | parent

So Uber ToS requires you to accept arbitration, then, when they are found responsible for damages, they still don’t want to pay. Seems pretty shitty for the consumer.

waiwai933 35 minutes ago | parent

I don't think there's anything to suggest Uber refused to pay the arbitration award? They just stated that they disagreed with the outcome.

(Which is not to say there's not plenty to dislike about this whole case, including the fact it's forced arbitration...)

nutjob2 26 minutes ago | parent

In that case why is there a "settlement agreement" mentioned that has a $10M penalty for disparagement? Not sure what that refers to exactly but how can Uber (try to) dictate terms in the settlement?

It does seem they're trying to get out of it somehow.

asdfaoeu 14 minutes ago | parent

It sounds like they didn't agree to that but anyone can propose a settlement.

nutjob2 12 minutes ago | parent

Really? Isn't the arbitration binding and therefore the end of the matter?

waiwai933 8 minutes ago | parent

Looking at a filing by Uber (https://www.panish.law/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Uber-Techn...), and in particular Exhibit 8, the ADR award is confirmed by a settlement agreement (and if no agreement is come to, then a civil action would confirm the terms of the award).

There was a dispute about whether the amount awarded was confidential or not (Uber contended it was; plaintiff contended it wasn't), but on the face of it, had plaintiff agreed to the confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses, Uber would have paid up.

I suppose it could be argued that Uber were trying to write in clauses they knew plaintiff wouldn't agree to, but it's not obvious to me that a different plaintiff wouldn't have agreed to confidentiality and non-disparagement.

(FWIW, it's not clear to me whether Uber have now in fact paid up; they made a statement to the Guardian that _suggests_ they have, but the fact that they didn't explicitly say so means I wouldn't want to draw that inference)

TZubiri 2 minutes ago | parent

I mean both are right, they made a bullshit filing about something being confidential, in order to negotiate a confidentiality settlement against it.

It's minor, but they are not accepting the award as-is, they are still trying to negotiating, albeit in a minor way, not by contesting the amount, but a confidentiality clause.

They love to negotiate confidentiality clauses, there's few cases without it, including a case by Mike Rafi's personal injury firm which resulted from an omission by Uber (and later Uber being much more anal about confidentiality). I think it's a strategy to avoid case law catching on.

itopaloglu83 34 minutes ago | parent

Forced arbitration is creating a parallel legal system where certain companies are excluded from the consequences of their own actions. One might even say they’re becoming a protected class even.

mchusma 29 minutes ago | parent

I have been on both sides of arbitration, winning and losing. It’s much better. Basically legislation done right (for civil matters).

The only people who really win from traditional legislation are lawyers (and plaintiffs counsel who use the long expensive process to blackmail people - which is 90% of civil cases)

z3ugma 21 minutes ago | parent

Did you mean "litigation" rather than "legislation" ?

bickfordb 17 minutes ago | parent

Arbitration can be more efficient, but both parties should have an option to choose it, a direct settlement or public court. The average consumer is denied the choice by using these everyday services that have non-negotiable contracts.

PunchyHamster 13 minutes ago | parent

None of the parties should have option to choose it, it should be within govt. justice system, just have arbitration court

dataflow 8 minutes ago | parent

You seem to be missing that arbitrators have a financial incentive to side with the company, which pays them? Explained in this video: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49787720

afavour 2 minutes ago | parent

Arbitration is fine. Forced arbitration is not.

TZubiri 8 minutes ago | parent

Worth noting that this is only for the civil responsibility, that is, deciding the award of damages.

The criminal charges, if any, whether to the driver or to Uber management (possibly from the sham structuring of worker categorization and corporate structure in order to reduce tax liabilities while reducing control and thus endangering consumers) are proper in state criminal courts and can never be delegated to private courts.

dataflow 43 minutes ago | parent

Video from Louis Rossmann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2B3uBQuGnU

oceansky 42 minutes ago | parent

Good outcome, but forced arbitration should still be illegal.

mchusma 27 minutes ago | parent

If you have been through both processes, you would more likely say the traditional civil process should be illegal.

hilariously 14 minutes ago | parent

No, you would say it needs to be reformed and funded, we have an extremely legalistic society that allows endless delaying and does not fund its core services very well.

ChrisArchitect 35 minutes ago | parent

[dupe] Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49761654

jacquesm 25 minutes ago | parent

All these companies are universally sleazy and refuse to take responsibility, no matter what. It's pretty much par for the course: deny you are responsible, try to control the court case in such a way that you inflict even more suffering on the victims and their families and ultimately, even if you're found to be in the wrong do everything to stall payment until each and every legal avenue to do so is exhausted.

calibas 14 minutes ago | parent

> Stone rejected Uber's argument that it is "merely a technology company" connecting riders with drivers, finding that Uber provides transportation services to the public through its app, sets prices and controls key aspects of the rider experience.

> The arbitrator also rejected Uber's argument that Proposition 22 -- a California ballot measure approved by voters in 2020 that allows companies to classify app-based drivers as independent contractors instead of employees -- prevented the company from being held liable for Tran's conduct.

The dream of every major tech company, making ridiculous profits while taking zero legal responsibility for what you create...