It was November 9, 2019, in Downtown Los Angeles. Lyssa Broomfield, originally from Los Gatos, just started fashion school and was celebrating a new chapter in her life.
“First time living on my own, moving out, moving to LA,” she recalled.
By the time she and her friends arrived at the nightclub, Broomfield had been drinking all day and night. She was heavily intoxicated, and when she got separated from her friends, she wanted to go home.
“That’s when I called an Uber. I opened the backdoor. and he said ‘No, that’s okay. Just come in the front,’” Broomfield said. “From then on it’s a blur. The one thing I remember the most is just being in some random parking lot.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Broomfield’s Uber trip details show she was picked up at 1 a.m. According to the police report she filed the next day, she was in that Uber for five and a half hours, until 6:30 a.m. At some points, she was “in and out of consciousness,” the police report indicated.
In addition to having her do a rape kit, Broomfield said police asked her to send the driver text messages asking him what happened. When she texted him, “I don’t really remember that night,” the driver responded, “Oh I believe you.”
Broomfield wanted to press criminal charges, but the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office ultimately said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the driver.
Local
“In their eyes, it was just ‘he said, she said.’ I felt very hopeless when I heard that,” Broomfield said.
Medical documents show a doctor reviewed Broomfield's reports and wrote that she was “violently sexually assaulted” and “pain started within one week later.” Broomfield had several herniated discs that needed multiple surgeries and led to debilitating pain that persists today.
According to plaintiffs’ attorneys, Broomfield is one of about 2,000 people suing Uber in civil court in state and federal court, alleging the company didn’t do enough to protect passengers from sexual abuse by its drivers.
While news outlets have covered some of these cases, Broomfield says what people don’t know is that there have been significant case delays. She recently learned from her attorney it could take close to a decade since her incident for her to see any sort of resolution.
“I need to find a way to survive now. I don’t have 10 years to wait. My body is degenerating every minute, day by day. It’s just getting worse,” Broomfield said.
“It’s heartbreaking because it’s our job to try to bring resolution and justice for these plaintiffs,” said Rachel Abrams, who is not Broomfield’s attorney but represents other alleged Uber sex assault victims.
Abrams said in 2022 Uber pushed to remove all non-California cases from state court, which caused a major delay. Some plaintiffs’ attorneys appealed, but instead of waiting for an appellate ruling, they refiled the non-California cases in federal court. Abrams said the cases are now moving along faster, but there are still delays. She called Uber “obstructionist.”
“Uber, every turn, would get another delay. It’s clearly going to be an issue that we have to deal with throughout this litigation with them,” she said.
Along with the sheer number of cases they need to get through, Abrams said Uber isn’t meeting some court deadlines.
Uber declined NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit’s request for an interview but said plaintiffs’ attorneys and the judge agreed to the extensions. Uber said it couldn’t comment further on the ongoing litigation but released a statement to the Investigative Unit saying, “Sexual assault is a horrific crime. We take every report of this nature very seriously, and we are deeply committed to the safety of all users on the Uber platform.”
Uber added assaults on its platform are very rare. It added numerous safety features to its app such as an emergency button, “Live Help” from a safety agent, and GPS tracking. Uber also published safety reports on incidents involving its platform.
Broomfield said she’s sharing her story to possibly help other women.
“Every single time, especially when it’s a woman, when I hear, ‘My Uber’s here!’ I pray to God that woman is safe,” she said.
Trial for some of the first California cases is scheduled to start in May 2025.
