Latest / Bloomberg Law / Luigi Mangione's Outburst & Uber's Court Loss
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Law with June Grosso from Bloomberg Radio.
- 0:12Speaker 2: Luigi Mangioni railed about double jeopardy during an unusual courtroom
- 0:17Speaker 2: outburst after a judge set his state trial for June
- 0:21Speaker 2: eighth leapfrogging and October trial date set by a judge
- 0:25Speaker 2: for his federal trial. Mangioni's defense team objected to the
- 0:30Speaker 2: June date, saying they won't be ready in time and
- 0:33Speaker 2: that their client faces a threat of double jeopardy. As
- 0:36Speaker 2: court officers led him from the courtroom, Mangioni shouted, it's
- 0:41Speaker 2: the same trial twice. One plus one equals two. This
- 0:46Speaker 2: is double jeopardy by any common sense definition. Mangioni is
- 0:51Speaker 2: charged with killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a
- 0:55Speaker 2: Manhattan sidewalk in December of twenty twenty four. Both the
- 0:59Speaker 2: state and the federal government are trying him for Thompson's killing.
- 1:03Speaker 2: His lawyers have pushed for the federal trial to go first,
- 1:07Speaker 2: which could bar the state trial from happening because of
- 1:11Speaker 2: New York's double jeopardy protections. At Friday's hearing, Mangioni's defense attorney,
- 1:17Speaker 2: Karen Friedman Agnifilo repeatedly said the June trial day places
- 1:22Speaker 2: an unfair burden on Mangioni's team to prepare for the
- 1:26Speaker 2: federal and state trials at the same time. Quote, mister
- 1:29Speaker 2: Mangioni is being put in an untenable situation because of
- 1:34Speaker 2: this tug of war between two different prosecution offices. Judge
- 1:38Speaker 2: Gregory Carrow's response was, be ready on June eighth.
- 1:42Speaker 1: That's it.
- 1:43Speaker 2: Joining me is Bloomberg Legal reporter David voriachis so, David, basically,
- 1:49Speaker 2: Manhattan prosecutors are fighting with federal prosecutors over who gets
- 1:54Speaker 2: to try Mangoni first.
- 1:56Speaker 3: That's correct. The judge in the federal case ruled that
- 2:03Speaker 3: Mangione could not be tried on a murder count that
- 2:06Speaker 3: could lead to the death penalty, which is what the
- 2:09Speaker 3: Trump administration was looking for now. This would be the
- 2:12Speaker 3: death penalty if the jury found him guilty and then
- 2:16Speaker 3: the jury then decided that he should be put to death.
- 2:20Speaker 3: She took that option off the table for legal reasons,
- 2:24Speaker 3: saying that essentially the underlying charge or the related charge
- 2:29Speaker 3: of stalking with the intent to kill, was not the
- 2:34Speaker 3: appropriate one to use with this murder count, So she
- 2:39Speaker 3: dismissed the murder count and a firearms offense, but left
- 2:43Speaker 3: the stalking charges, and there are two stalking charges for Mangeon,
- 2:47Speaker 3: who still could face life in prison if he's convicted
- 2:51Speaker 3: of those. The judge set a September eighth date to
- 2:56Speaker 3: begin jury selection in that case, unless the prosecutors appeal
- 3:02Speaker 3: her ruling, and it's not clear that they will. Meanwhile,
- 3:07Speaker 3: just last week, the judge in the state case, who
- 3:11Speaker 3: had previously thrown out a first degree murder charge and
- 3:15Speaker 3: left in place the second degree murder charge, set a
- 3:19Speaker 3: June eighth trial date for Mangione, and he said that
- 3:25Speaker 3: he would move that to September eighth if the federal
- 3:29Speaker 3: prosecutors appeal.
- 3:31Speaker 2: I thought long ago the Feds had said that they
- 3:33Speaker 2: would let the state go first, and Judge Caar noted quote,
- 3:38Speaker 2: it appears the federal government has renegged on its agreement
- 3:42Speaker 2: to let the state, which has done most of the
- 3:44Speaker 2: work in this case, go first.
- 3:47Speaker 3: There has been discussion of an agreement. It's just a
- 3:51Speaker 3: little unclear how that agreement was supposed to be enforced.
- 3:55Speaker 3: And the judge in the federal case went ahead and
- 3:59Speaker 3: set a September trial date because the judge in the
- 4:02Speaker 3: state case had not acted, and there was a very
- 4:09Speaker 3: intense hearing on Friday, after which Mangione was shackled and
- 4:15Speaker 3: being let out of court, and he turned and shouted
- 4:19Speaker 3: to the gallery, it's the same trial. Twice one plus
- 4:23Speaker 3: one is too double jeopardy by any common sense definition. Now,
- 4:28Speaker 3: this is not a normal turn of events where the
- 4:31Speaker 3: defendant would make such a pronouncement to the gallery. What
- 4:36Speaker 3: he's referring to is that his lawyers have argued consistently
- 4:42Speaker 3: that by charging him for the same act, the allegation
- 4:46Speaker 3: is that he murdered United Health Group executive Brian Thompson,
- 4:52Speaker 3: by charging him twice for the same act, that that
- 4:55Speaker 3: amounts to double jeopardy, which is barred in the US
- 4:58Speaker 3: Constitution and under New York state law. So there's been
- 5:02Speaker 3: a lot of jockeying between federal and state prosecutors to
- 5:07Speaker 3: see who was going to go first.
- 5:10Speaker 2: Isn't it accepted that it's two different sovereigns and you
- 5:13Speaker 2: can try a person in state court and federal court.
- 5:16Speaker 3: I think it's unclear how the facts of this case
- 5:20Speaker 3: will play out and how the law will play out
- 5:23Speaker 3: in this case. There's clearly competition, and you could imagine that, say,
- 5:29Speaker 3: the judges or the prosecutors would get together and resolve this.
- 5:34Speaker 3: But this seems to be proceeding not in an amicable fashion.
- 5:39Speaker 2: If you look at it without all the publicity, it
- 5:41Speaker 2: seems to be a classic state case. It's a killing
- 5:44Speaker 2: on the streets of Manhattan.
- 5:46Speaker 3: It is more traditionally a state prosecution. And the judge
- 5:49Speaker 3: said that, the State Court judge said that on Friday,
- 5:52Speaker 3: that this is more traditionally something that would go on.
- 5:55Speaker 3: And that's something that the prosecutors for Manhattan District Attorney
- 6:00Speaker 3: Alvin Bragg have been arguing all along. That they investigated
- 6:04Speaker 3: this case with the New York Police Department, and they
- 6:08Speaker 3: collected all the evidence and put out the bulletins that
- 6:12Speaker 3: led to Mengione's arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and that the
- 6:19Speaker 3: Justice Department, the federal government only got involved essentially after
- 6:24Speaker 3: the New York Police Department and the Manhattan DIA had
- 6:27Speaker 3: done the bulk of their investigation. And if your work
- 6:30Speaker 3: all the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said that the Justice
- 6:35Speaker 3: Department was going to seek the death penalty before the
- 6:40Speaker 3: Southern District of New York prosecutors had secured a federal indictment.
- 6:46Speaker 2: And Bondi was criticized for making that decision before she
- 6:50Speaker 2: even knew the facts of the case. Why does each
- 6:53Speaker 2: side want to go first? Is there a concern perhaps
- 6:57Speaker 2: that the argument of double JAF will come up after
- 7:02Speaker 2: the verdict in a first trial, and also perhaps that
- 7:05Speaker 2: a second trial is less of a surprise for the defense,
- 7:09Speaker 2: so they may have an advantage.
- 7:12Speaker 3: It's not entirely clear why it's so important to each
- 7:15Speaker 3: side to go first. I mean, I assume for publicity value,
- 7:20Speaker 3: and you know, the evidence is fresher, the witnesses are fresher.
- 7:24Speaker 3: As you suggest, the defense might have a better shot
- 7:27Speaker 3: the second time around. But say, if Mangione is convicted
- 7:32Speaker 3: and faces a life sentence, it's not entirely clear that
- 7:36Speaker 3: he would want to go through that a second time.
- 7:39Speaker 3: I mean, you could imagine that that might give leverage
- 7:43Speaker 3: for a plea deal, averting a second trial.
- 7:47Speaker 2: Key evidence in the case was found in Mangione's backpack
- 7:51Speaker 2: that was searched at that McDonald's in Pennsylvania where he
- 7:56Speaker 2: was arrested, and the defense has been fighting to keep
- 7:59Speaker 2: that evidence out of the trial, arguing it was an
- 8:02Speaker 2: illegal search, but the state judge, Judge Caro, is not
- 8:07Speaker 2: going to issue a ruling on whether that critical evidence
- 8:11Speaker 2: is in or out until May eighteenth, when he set
- 8:16Speaker 2: the trial date for June eighth.
- 8:19Speaker 3: The state court judge is going to rule in May,
- 8:22Speaker 3: which is almost six months after he had a seven
- 8:26Speaker 3: day hearing on the matter, whereas the federal judge had
- 8:31Speaker 3: a single hearing with one witness on it and ruled
- 8:35Speaker 3: promptly that the evidence collected in Luigi Mangione's backpack in
- 8:41Speaker 3: a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania was admissible in the federal trial.
- 8:45Speaker 3: So she ruled against the defense request to throw out
- 8:49Speaker 3: that evidence, which if it's admitted, is, according to the
- 8:54Speaker 3: New York authorities, very damning. It includes what they say
- 8:59Speaker 3: was the gun that was used to murder Thompson. It
- 9:03Speaker 3: includes a silencer, a gun magazine, and a diary that
- 9:08Speaker 3: authorities say included a number of writings suggesting that Mancione
- 9:13Speaker 3: was planning to murder Brian Thompson.
- 9:17Speaker 2: This sort of illustrates the differences between practicing in state
- 9:21Speaker 2: court and federal court. First Brand's founder Patrick James and
- 9:27Speaker 2: his brother Edward pleaded not guilty to front charges stemming
- 9:31Speaker 2: from the multi billion dollar collapse of their auto parts
- 9:35Speaker 2: supply business. Prosecutors say that as a result of the
- 9:39Speaker 2: defrauding of the company's lenders and financing partners, hundreds of
- 9:43Speaker 2: millions of dollars flowed into the personal accounts of Patrick James.
- 9:48Speaker 2: Federal prosecutors alleged the two former First Brands executives used
- 9:53Speaker 2: fake and inflated invoices to persuade lenders to provide billions
- 9:57Speaker 2: of dollars in financing to the company. Jay Clayton, the
- 10:01Speaker 2: US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said
- 10:04Speaker 2: the James brothers obtained billions for First Brands and millions
- 10:09Speaker 2: for themselves by presenting their lenders with the impression of
- 10:12Speaker 2: a successful, growing international business. He said it was a
- 10:17Speaker 2: business run through fraud, fake documents, and false financials. The
- 10:22Speaker 2: indictment follows separate civil lawsuits brought against the brothers by
- 10:26Speaker 2: First Brand's bankruptcy advisors. The company filed for Chapter eleven
- 10:31Speaker 2: bankruptcy in September of last year with just twelve million
- 10:35Speaker 2: dollars in its corporate accounts and more than nine billion
- 10:38Speaker 2: in liabilities. I've been talking to Bloomberg Legal reporter David
- 10:42Speaker 2: Voriakis tell us about the charges.
- 10:45Speaker 3: David Patrick James was the founder of First Brands, which
- 10:48Speaker 3: is a big auto parts supply business that filed for
- 10:52Speaker 3: bankruptcy last year, and the allegations are that he and
- 10:57Speaker 3: his brother, who was a top executive, engaged in a
- 11:01Speaker 3: massive fraud scheme regarding the financing of billions of dollars
- 11:08Speaker 3: to the company. And they were indicted on charges including wirefraud,
- 11:14Speaker 3: bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to
- 11:17Speaker 3: commit money laundering.
- 11:19Speaker 2: And explain how prosecutors say they committed these frauds.
- 11:25Speaker 3: They are accused of essentially creating false invoices, using fake
- 11:32Speaker 3: and inflated invoices to persuade lenders to give them financing
- 11:38Speaker 3: that they needed to keep their business going. And you know,
- 11:42Speaker 3: there's allegations of round trip financing, and a lot of
- 11:47Speaker 3: this has already been aired and litigated in bankruptcy court.
- 11:53Speaker 3: The prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say
- 11:56Speaker 3: that it amounted to a criminal scheme. Of course, the
- 12:00Speaker 3: brothers have pleaded not guilty and to their lawyers deny wrongdoing.
- 12:06Speaker 3: The prosecutors have also secured the guilty plea and cooperation
- 12:12Speaker 3: of a big executive, Peter Brumberg's who pleaded guilty under seal,
- 12:18Speaker 3: and we'll be testifying at a trial that's scheduled to
- 12:23Speaker 3: begin on July thirteenth.
- 12:25Speaker 2: And prosecutors say that they have recordings.
- 12:28Speaker 3: They have consensual recordings. They said that in a hearing,
- 12:32Speaker 3: But the nature of those recordings and who's on them
- 12:35Speaker 3: is unclear at the moment.
- 12:37Speaker 2: So most of this was litigated or brought up in
- 12:41Speaker 2: bankruptcy court. What did they find in bankruptcy court?
- 12:45Speaker 3: There was a great deal of money that essentially went
- 12:49Speaker 3: missing according to creditors. There's one lawsuit that accuses Patrick
- 12:54Speaker 3: James of misappropriating more than seven hundred million between twenty
- 12:59Speaker 3: eighteen in last September, and they say that that helped
- 13:04Speaker 3: James and his family live their lavish lifestyle. James of
- 13:08Speaker 3: course denies that. And essentially their defense is that they
- 13:13Speaker 3: were that they were the victims of self interested, sophisticated
- 13:20Speaker 3: institutions that placed what they said were patently absurd interest
- 13:26Speaker 3: rates and fees on their borrowings.
- 13:28Speaker 2: So they are accusing the lenders of engaging in predatory practices.
- 13:33Speaker 2: Are they also claiming that the tariffs played a part
- 13:35Speaker 2: in this.
- 13:36Speaker 3: They do blame the tariffs a bit too. That was
- 13:40Speaker 3: a factor that changed the business environment that helped lead
- 13:45Speaker 3: to their bankruptcy.
- 13:47Speaker 2: How much money do they have now.
- 13:49Speaker 3: It's unclear, many millions of dollars now. Patrick James is
- 13:54Speaker 3: free on a fifty million dollar bond and Edward James
- 13:58Speaker 3: is free on a twenty five million dollar bond, and
- 14:01Speaker 3: they had put up a portion of that in cash
- 14:03Speaker 3: and also post properties to secure their bond. So this
- 14:08Speaker 3: is a big part of the bankruptcy litigation is just
- 14:10Speaker 3: how much money do they have and how much were
- 14:14Speaker 3: they paid through the companies. It's a private company that
- 14:20Speaker 3: Patrick James owns, and so the accounting is not quite
- 14:26Speaker 3: as transparent as if it had been a public company.
- 14:29Speaker 2: And the penalties are pretty stiff here if they're convicted.
- 14:34Speaker 3: Yes, I believe it's life in prison for Patrick James.
- 14:40Speaker 3: And you know, as with all of these financial frauds
- 14:43Speaker 3: that involve wire fraud and bank fraud, it's potentially dozens
- 14:48Speaker 3: of years in prison. Typically, why collar executives receive far
- 14:52Speaker 3: less than that. But I mean, they're looking at very
- 14:54Speaker 3: serious time if they're convicted in this case.
- 14:57Speaker 2: So trial is set for July third. I imagine that's
- 15:02Speaker 2: going to be a very complicated trial with lots of documents.
- 15:07Speaker 2: Do you know how long the trial is expected to take.
- 15:11Speaker 3: Well, it's a complex financial fraud, and I don't think
- 15:16Speaker 3: the prosecutors have yet said how long they need to
- 15:19Speaker 3: present their case, but I would imagine if it's anything
- 15:23Speaker 3: like similar cases, it would be several weeks. And so
- 15:28Speaker 3: far it appears that the most powerful evidence they have
- 15:32Speaker 3: would be testimony from Peter Brumberg's, the cooperating First Brand's
- 15:37Speaker 3: executive who pleaded guilty.
- 15:39Speaker 2: Thanks so much, David. That's Bloomberg Legal reporter David Voriakis.
- 15:44Speaker 2: In other legal news today, a landmark trials for the
- 15:49Speaker 2: first time. Uber has been found liable for not preventing
- 15:53Speaker 2: an alleged sexual assault of a passenger. The ride shared
- 15:57Speaker 2: giant was hit with an eight and a half mills
- 16:00Speaker 2: billion dollar verdict in a jury trial in Arizona, where
- 16:03Speaker 2: a nineteen year old woman said she was raped by
- 16:06Speaker 2: her driver. The company said it plans to appeal. The
- 16:10Speaker 2: jury found that Uber was liable because the driver was
- 16:13Speaker 2: acting as an apparent agent of the company, but the
- 16:17Speaker 2: jury said Uber didn't act negligently or design a defective product,
- 16:22Speaker 2: but the verdict does raise the risk of a costly
- 16:25Speaker 2: settlement to resolve the more than three thousand similar civil
- 16:29Speaker 2: lawsuits from passengers filed around the country. Uber did prevail
- 16:34Speaker 2: in a similar case last year in California State Court.
- 16:38Speaker 2: Joining me is Dana Whitfield, a partner at SPA in Bernstein.
- 16:42Speaker 2: Uber for years has been fighting these sexual assault claims
- 16:47Speaker 2: by arguing that the company can't be blamed that the
- 16:50Speaker 2: drivers are independent contractors. Can you tell us a little
- 16:53Speaker 2: bit about that?
- 16:55Speaker 1: Sure?
- 16:56Speaker 4: Well, that's always been their go to response, and it's
- 16:59Speaker 4: true they are independent contractors. However, despite them being an
- 17:04Speaker 4: independent contractor, they still are only able to access passengers
- 17:09Speaker 4: through the software that was created by Uber. So since
- 17:13Speaker 4: there is a level of respond to yet superior is
- 17:17Speaker 4: the actual legal term where the fact that they both
- 17:21Speaker 4: gain something, they become an agent of Uber.
- 17:26Speaker 1: These drivers do the Uber is the.
- 17:29Speaker 4: One that retains and collects the fare they pay these
- 17:33Speaker 4: drivers based on the software that's used and the access.
- 17:38Speaker 4: So despite there being an independent contactors situation, they also
- 17:43Speaker 4: are able to say that you're an agent of Uber.
- 17:47Speaker 4: So therefore Uber has a responsibility to their passengers, who
- 17:50Speaker 4: they promote the software too, that they're going to be
- 17:54Speaker 4: safe and they're going to implement safety measures to prevent
- 17:57Speaker 4: the drivers from assaulting passengers.
- 18:00Speaker 2: Tell us about how the jury came down here on
- 18:03Speaker 2: the agency and on negligence.
- 18:07Speaker 4: Well, the jurors clearly found that Uber not only failed
- 18:13Speaker 4: to implement the safety measures, but they also failed to
- 18:16Speaker 4: properly screen these drivers.
- 18:18Speaker 1: So you had mentioned.
- 18:19Speaker 4: Earlier that there have been, you know, numerous complaints, and
- 18:23Speaker 4: they've known this for years. It actually goes back to
- 18:26Speaker 4: these complaints coming as early as twenty fourteen. Also in
- 18:31Speaker 4: December of twenty nineteen, Uber had released a safety report
- 18:35Speaker 4: that showed that passengers had filed more than three thousand
- 18:37Speaker 4: complaints of sexual assault back then.
- 18:41Speaker 1: So they've had the.
- 18:42Speaker 4: Knowledge for many years that they could have done more.
- 18:46Speaker 4: They could have, as I mentioned, properly screened them, or
- 18:49Speaker 4: at the bare minimum, they could have advised and alerted
- 18:53Speaker 4: passengers of the risks of sexual assault by their drivers,
- 18:58Speaker 4: because a passenger is not going to know that there's
- 19:01Speaker 4: an independent contractor situation that these drivers are using their
- 19:04Speaker 4: own vehicles, sometimes their own insurance as well. So therefore
- 19:09Speaker 4: you're putting your faith into a billion dollar companies such
- 19:13Speaker 4: as Uber, but really your safety at your at risk
- 19:17Speaker 4: because there's just a driver who may only have one
- 19:20Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars policy limit, and you don't know where
- 19:23Speaker 4: they previously worked or if they were just maybe even
- 19:25Speaker 4: out of prison.
- 19:26Speaker 1: You have no idea who is driving you.
- 19:28Speaker 4: You only know that you're trusting Uber because you downloaded
- 19:30Speaker 4: the app.
- 19:31Speaker 2: But the jury didn't find that Uber was negligent.
- 19:35Speaker 4: They found that there was clearly an issue with regard
- 19:38Speaker 4: to the sexual assault, so they were liable because of
- 19:43Speaker 4: the agency. That's where they found that there has to
- 19:46Speaker 4: be summer. So the award of I believe it was
- 19:48Speaker 4: eight point five million to this young lady was based
- 19:51Speaker 4: on the fact that while the criminal action was that
- 19:54Speaker 4: of the driver, it was Uber who failed to implement
- 19:58Speaker 4: these safety precautions.
- 20:00Speaker 2: Is Uber sort of taking comfort in the fact that
- 20:04Speaker 2: it wasn't found guilty of negligence despite everything that you
- 20:08Speaker 2: just mentioned.
- 20:09Speaker 4: It's going to be what they're going to hang their
- 20:10Speaker 4: hat on. But I think it's going to set a
- 20:12Speaker 4: precedent that, based on the fact that there are thousands
- 20:15Speaker 4: of other cases, that this is going to be something
- 20:18Speaker 4: that other states will actually hold on to instead there
- 20:21Speaker 4: are women who are finding that I've been assaulted by
- 20:25Speaker 4: an Uber driver and despite there being this relationship where
- 20:29Speaker 4: they're an independent contractor, Uber had knowledge and could have
- 20:32Speaker 4: done something to protect me. So I think they're going
- 20:35Speaker 4: to have an issue with regard to other states, looking
- 20:38Speaker 4: to make sure that this decision now will set a
- 20:40Speaker 4: president for other states as well. In federal court.
- 20:43Speaker 2: Yeah, so federal court. So explain how this is a
- 20:45Speaker 2: Bellweather trial.
- 20:47Speaker 4: It's a Bellweather trial because of the magnitude, because there's
- 20:50Speaker 4: so many cases. And they've done this also with the
- 20:54Speaker 4: hair relaxer cases where there are instead of making it
- 20:57Speaker 4: a class action suit, they put them all in under
- 21:00Speaker 4: umbrella so that there is one measure to kind of
- 21:05Speaker 4: corral everyone into one case. So that's why they use
- 21:08Speaker 4: the belt.
- 21:08Speaker 2: By the trial in the California state trial that ended
- 21:12Speaker 2: with a different verdict, the jury found in that case
- 21:16Speaker 2: that Uber wasn't liable. How do you account for the differences.
- 21:20Speaker 1: It depends on the jurors.
- 21:21Speaker 4: But I think that now we have the contradiction, and
- 21:24Speaker 4: it also could have been that this case was in
- 21:26Speaker 4: the case in California was many years before we're still
- 21:29Speaker 4: dealing with the fact that what have they done to change?
- 21:32Speaker 4: There's a level of notice now that comes into play.
- 21:35Speaker 4: I believe with the Arizona decision is that if nothing
- 21:38Speaker 4: has changed and you're aware that there have been thousands
- 21:42Speaker 4: of complaints of sexual assaults, and you're still advertising and
- 21:45Speaker 4: you're still promoting that you are safe when really that's
- 21:49Speaker 4: not true. So that was the main issue is that
- 21:52Speaker 4: I think that they are looking into are you looking
- 21:55Speaker 4: at just the profits or are you looking at the
- 21:57Speaker 4: safety of your passengers? And if there's a priority with
- 22:00Speaker 4: regard to the profits, that's an issue.
- 22:02Speaker 2: Where does it fit in that Uber has, you know,
- 22:05Speaker 2: rolled out some safety measures. You know, you can share
- 22:09Speaker 2: your ride location with friends, there's an option if you
- 22:12Speaker 2: want a female driver. Where does that fit into these cases?
- 22:17Speaker 4: I think that that's a start, of course, but I
- 22:20Speaker 4: think with regard to the negligent supervision, that's something that
- 22:27Speaker 4: no matter if you've shared your ride and you've requested
- 22:31Speaker 4: a female driver, what if there's nobody else that's available.
- 22:35Speaker 1: You still need to get that ride.
- 22:36Speaker 4: You still need to get home, and there has to
- 22:39Speaker 4: be a level of screening that has to take place
- 22:43Speaker 4: before you're even putting someone in the position to actually
- 22:45Speaker 4: be in a car with someone where where you could
- 22:47Speaker 4: be victimized. So that's where I think the arizonajurs found
- 22:53Speaker 4: there to be something that was lacking, that it wasn't
- 22:57Speaker 4: enough that there should be something done with regard to
- 23:00Speaker 4: screening before they're even allowed to have access to the
- 23:03Speaker 4: app to be able to reach these passengers.
- 23:07Speaker 2: So what do you think Uber's chances on a PLR.
- 23:12Speaker 4: I mean, there's always, you know, a fifty to fifty chance.
- 23:15Speaker 1: You really can't tell.
- 23:16Speaker 4: I mean, because there's been conflicting decisions, I think that
- 23:20Speaker 4: there's a chance, but it really doesn't matter. Is there's
- 23:23Speaker 4: going to be a consensus with regard to could there
- 23:25Speaker 4: have been something that was a misrepresentation of the law,
- 23:29Speaker 4: and I don't believe that in this case that there was.
- 23:32Speaker 2: So do you think that we'll start to see settlements
- 23:35Speaker 2: in some of these cases.
- 23:37Speaker 4: I think we were already seeing settlements in some of
- 23:39Speaker 4: these cases, which is why so many have not made
- 23:41Speaker 4: it to the federal court or even to state court.
- 23:44Speaker 1: But I think that this decision.
- 23:46Speaker 4: Will now put Uber on notice that if you're not
- 23:49Speaker 4: going to change the approach and you're not going to
- 23:51Speaker 4: change the advertising and the safety measures that we're going
- 23:54Speaker 4: to be seeing a few more settlements until there's a
- 23:56Speaker 4: decision or an appeal that states otherwise.
- 23:59Speaker 2: Thanks so much for today. That's Dana Whitfield, managing partner
- 24:03Speaker 2: of the Personal Injury Department at SPA and Bernstein, and
- 24:07Speaker 2: that's it for this edition of The Bloomberg Law Show.
- 24:09Speaker 2: Remember you can always get the latest legal news on
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