Uber agrees to settle U.S. lawsuit filed by India rape victim

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] has agreed to settle a U.S. civil lawsuit filed by a woman who accused top executives of improperly obtaining her medical records after a company driver raped her in India, according to a court filing on Friday.

In a criminal case in India, the Uber driver was convicted of the rape, which occurred in Delhi in 2014, and sentenced in 2015 to life in prison.

The Indian woman also settled a civil U.S. lawsuit against Uber in 2015, but sued the company again in June in San Francisco federal court saying that shortly after the incident, a U.S. Uber executive “met with Delhi police and intentionally obtained plaintiff’s confidential medical records.” Uber retained a copy of those records, the lawsuit said.

The woman was living in the United States when she filed the lawsuit.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the court document on Friday. Representatives for Uber and an attorney for the woman could not immediately be reached for comment.

The lawsuit cited several media reports which said former Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick and others doubted the victim’s account of her ordeal.

“Uber executives duplicitously and publicly decried the rape, expressing sympathy for plaintiff, and shock and regret at the violent attack, while privately speculating, as outlandish as it is, that she had colluded with a rival company to harm Uber’s business,” the lawsuit said.

In a prior statement, Uber said: “No one should have to go through a horrific experience like this, and we’re truly sorry that she’s had to relive it.”