Uber must pay $40 million to the parents of a 23-year-old woman struck and killed after a ride-share driver abandoned her near traffic on the 73 highway in 2023, a judge wrote in .
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While awarding $20 million each to Emily Normandin-Parker’s mother and father, retired judge Richard A. Stone also sharply questioned the ride-share company’s approach to rider safety.
Hopefully, it (Uber) will learn from this tragic incident… and change the pertinent policies and procedures accordingly,” the judge wrote. “Should it (Uber) fail to do so, it no doubt engages in that approach at its own substantial risk.”
Normandin-Parker’s parents said they were relieved to see that explicit warning.
“We were very pleased to see the judge put Uber on notice that their behavior was unacceptable,” said Ken Parker, Emily’s father. “How they are handling what they call dangerous driving incidents is inadequate.”
“Uber needs to stop harming people in preventable ways,” Carol Normandin, Emily’s mother, added.
Uber officials in a written statement indicated that they disagreed with the decision.
“No family should have to suffer the loss of a child, and our thoughts continue to be with the Normandin-Parker family,” Uber officials wrote. “While we respect the arbitration process, we believe the arbitrator was wrong in holding Uber legally responsible for the tragic events of that night.”
After a night out with a friend on Aug. 12, 2023, Normandin-Parker called an Uber for a ride home. Her friend vomited during the ride, according to evidence presented during the arbitration process, and the Uber driver, Vu Tran, pulled over on the 73 near the MacArthur off-ramp and stopped around 1 a.m. in a gore point, the triangle-shaped zone where a highway lane and an exit or entrance ramp either split or join together.
The driver demanded the riders pay a cleaning fee and ordered the two intoxicated young women out of the car, according to the evidence. Normandin-Parker was reportedly left stranded alongside freeway lanes, where she was struck by several vehicles and killed.
Judge Stone wrote that the driver “needlessly placed” the young women in danger and showed “far more worry for his new car than he did for his passengers…
“In a fit of anger, he needlessly placed them (and himself) in danger by illegally stopping in the gore point when he could have easily used the MacArthur Boulevard exit/offramp and stopped in a safe place instead alongside an active freeway at night,” the judge wrote. “He could have ensured they stayed in the car once he realized there was no “emergency” and driven them to a lawful place of safety.
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“To make matters worse, Tran then abandoned those two young women, whom he knew to be intoxicated and whom he had kicked out of his car in his anger over what had transpired, in that spot,” the judge wrote.
Uber officials said in their statement that they have “continued to strengthen our approach to safety over the years, through new technology, policies and safeguards informed by safety experts, including additional guidance to drivers about avoiding drop-offs in unsafe locations…
“Our work on safety is never finished, and we will continue looking for ways to help make the platform safer,” the company’s statement added.
But Rahul Ravipudi, an attorney with the Los Angeles-based Panish Shea Ravipudi law firm representing Normandin-Parker’s parents, said he was disappointed that Uber was still denying responsibility for the young woman’s death. While an arbitration decision does not set legal precedent, the attorney said it should serve as a clear warning for Uber.
“Based on the evidence, there was no doubt Uber was going to be found accountable for this tragedy,” Ravipudi said. “He (the judge) has put them on notice they need to do better. It sounds like they are not, and that is too bad.”
Normandin-Parker’s parents were also angered that Uber initially fought to prevent them from talking publicly about the arbitration decision.
“Instead of keeping people safe, they focused on trying to silence us,” Normandin said. “It’s not about the money. We want to use the money to protect other people.”
The parents described Normandin-Parker — a 2022 UCLA graduate, writer and musician — as an empathetic young woman with an ability to “hone in on details and find someone’s strengths, what was unique or positive about someone.” They remembered her as “brave and courageous” with “a contagious laugh.”
“I just remember how kind she was and how she always helped people,” Parker said. “Which makes this all the more tragic.”
The family said they plan to use the proceeds from the arbitration award to fund the Emily Normandin-Parker Foundation, which they created in her honor after her death. The foundation is meant to advocate on behalf of victims, seek corporate accountability and bring visibility to issues within the ride-share industry, the parents said.
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