Skip to content 
Photo: Uber headquarters in Mission Bay, San Francisco, by HaeB, Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A Georgia family has reached a confidential settlement with Uber in a lawsuit alleging that the rideshare company failed to protect a 14-year-old girl who was transported to the home of a man accused of trafficking and sexually assaulting her, Atlanta news channel 11 Alive reported.
The lawsuit alleged that an Uber driver picked up the teen shortly before 2 a.m. at an abandoned gas station in Butts County in November 2024 and drove her more than 30 miles to a home in Clayton County.
The ride had been ordered by Thomas Bonner, who allegedly knew the girl was 14.
According to the complaint, the teen was drugged and repeatedly raped over four days after arriving at the home. Bonner was later arrested and charged with offenses including human trafficking, aggravated child molestation, sodomy and statutory rape, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Lawsuit Alleged Driver Ignored Warning Signs
The lawsuit accused Uber and the driver of failing to recognize what the family described as obvious warning signs.
The teen was allegedly traveling alone in the middle of the night, the ride had been ordered by an adult who was not present, and no parent or guardian had authorized the trip.
The complaint said the driver did not verify the girl’s age, request identification or contact a parent before transporting her. Uber generally prohibits unaccompanied minors from using its service unless they are participating in an approved teen-account program.
The family argued that the trip should never have occurred and that Uber’s systems failed to prevent a minor from being transported under circumstances that should have raised concerns.
Settlement Funds Will Be Held for Teen
Court filings show that Uber and the family have agreed to settle all claims.
The amount is confidential, although filings indicate the teen will receive more than $25,000. The funds will be placed in a trust that she cannot access until she turns 18, CBS News reported.
The settlement follows months of litigation over discovery, including Uber’s effort to prevent CEO Dara Khosrowshahi from being deposed.
A Gwinnett County judge rejected that request, finding that the CEO could possess information relevant to Uber’s knowledge of human-trafficking risks and company safety practices. The Georgia Supreme Court later declined to review Uber’s challenge to that ruling.
Federal Uber Sexual Assault MDL
The Georgia lawsuit proceeded separately in state court and was not part of the federal Uber Passenger Sexual Assault Litigation.
That MDL, known as MDL No. 3084, was created in October 2023 and is being overseen by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in the Northern District of California. The litigation consolidates thousands of lawsuits alleging that Uber failed to adequately protect passengers from sexual assaults committed by drivers.
As of Sept. 1, 2026, approximately 4,588 cases were pending in the federal MDL. Similar claims are also proceeding in coordinated California state-court litigation and in individual state cases around the country. The federal cases generally focus on allegations involving driver screening, safety warnings, reporting systems and Uber’s response to known risks of sexual assault.
The Georgia case presented a different theory of liability: rather than alleging that an Uber driver committed the assault, the family alleged that Uber’s platform and driver facilitated a dangerous trip involving a minor that ultimately led to trafficking and sexual abuse
Uber has said it is committed to combating human trafficking and provides drivers with training on recognizing and reporting potential trafficking. The Georgia lawsuit argued that those protections failed in this instance.
RELATED:
New Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuit Filed in Georgia Over Rideshare App’s Role in Sex Trafficking
